Grigori's Promise
by Techno Skittles
Summary: He was her sole priority. The preservation of his soul was more important than her own. She'd risk her own life to keep him safe. But with his lack of faith in her, it was going to be tough. Especially since both of their souls were currently a target.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Hey, Soul, what's your opinion on angels?"

Soul tipped back in his chair, one arm casually behind his head as he paused to sip his Coke. "Explain."

Maka furrowed her brow and tapped his thigh, indicating for him to plant all four chair legs on the floor. "You know, what do you think about 'em? Like, do you even think they exist?"

Soul sighed and dropped back onto the floor fully with a _thud_ and took another swig of Coke. He removed his arm from his head and dropped it onto the kitchen table and leaned on it. "If you're back on that whole 'I-wanna-be-an-angel' phase again, just drop the subject now."

Maka rolled her eyes and tugged on her yellow floral skirt. "No, stupid. I just want to know if you think angels exist or not. A simple question that deserves a simple answer." She picked up her own glass of iced tea and swirled it around. "So do they?"

Soul quirked a silvery eyebrow and stared at her with a questioning intensity, curious at the sudden choice in topic. "Honestly?" he asked before he downed the rest of his soda and crumpled the aluminum can in his hand. "Not at all."

A slight flicker was detected through their bond and Soul physically saw Maka's shoulders slump for a millisecond before she perked up and stared at him with a new expression. A fire larger and brighter than a forest fire shone behind her green eyes, making the once innocent eyes smolder with defiance. "Explain."

"It's pretty blunt, Maka. Angels don't exist. What else do you need?"

Another pang of hurt – or maybe it was disappointment? – could be felt in her soul before she leaned on her own elbows on the table. "Why don't you think they exist?" she pushed.

Soul shrugged and tossed his can in the trash can. It missed and bounced off of the rim before clanging to the floor and skidding across the tile until it was stopped by the way. Soul tapped the table in annoyance but leaned back and ignored his crinkled litter and leaned back into his chair, hands behind his head again. "No evidence."

"So?"

"Why do you care so much?"

"Because I want to know. So tell me!" she commanded in a voice that sounded playful, but was accompanied by a no-nonsense slap on his arm. "What evidence is missing?"

"A lot," Soul answered automatically. When his meister continued to look at him expectantly, he paused and thought more deeply, but only because he wanted her off his back. It was just like her to trick him into actually thinking about stuff besides "wake up, eat, sleep" on a Saturday, but that was only a portion of her charm.

"For instance," he continued, looking at her once more. "No one's ever seen an actual angel. Don't you think we would've noticed someone with huge wings sticking out from their back?" He looked over at her, watching her fidget with her hands on her lap, avoiding his gaze.

"They probably hide them so you can't see them. Maybe they want to stay hidden," she muttered.

Soul shrugged leaned back in his chair again, feeling very spiteful once he glimpsed Maka's obvious annoyance written across her face. He rocked back and forth for good measure. "Yeah, I guess you have a point," he agreed. "But still, everything has some sort of logic behind it. Angels don't exist. No explanation needed."

Maka huffed and crossed her arms, frowning deeply in frustration. Soul could tell that he was playing on her last nerves now, but it was just too funny to see her in such a state of innocent anger to pass it up. It was worth a Maka-Chop or two.

"How can you be so sure of yourself, Soul? Haven't you ever heard of guardian angels or fallen angels? The old stories about the times before humans inhabited the earth where angels were the only living beings? Why are you so set on logic?" she questioned him and jumped out of her seat, slamming her hands on the table and glaring at him. "Haven't you ever read the legends and tales? Why is it that you of all people are so set on logic for this one topic?"

Soul looked at his irate meister out of the corner of his eye and took note on how serious she was taking all of this. The poor girl _honestly_ believed in angels. Soul held back a chuckle at his meister's naiveness. It was actually kind of sad.

Perhaps, _that_ was why she was so obsessed with being called an angel. . .

Never the one to back down from an argument, even to spare one's feelings, Soul straightened up his chair and stared directly into Maka's green eyes that now were burning with determination and fury, both directed towards him. But her eyes held no competition to the extremities that her soul contained. Over their link, Soul could feel his meister's soul beating erratically with defiance and loathing. It unnerved him, he would admit, but he reassured himself that she was just in one of _those _moods.

But that didn't stop him from saying what he did.

"Look, dumbass. There's no proof that the damned things exist so quit it; you're getting on my nerves. Angels are stupid little creatures manifested by idiotic parents to tell their children as bedtime stories to get them to shut the fuck up and get to sleep. God, Maka! I didn't know you were _that_ stupid! I mean, angels? Give me a fucking break!" He stood up and walked over to his abandoned Coke can and bent down to pick it up. "So there's your answer. Now will you leave me alone?"

He finished his last question and picked up the can. He straightened up and turned to Maka who just stood there, all fire gone, replaced by a violent but cooling storm forming in her soul. Cold, hatred-filled eyes glared at him under ash blonde hair as tears began to well up in them, hazing them over with wetness, making them shine. Remorse came down on him in a tidal wave after finally seeing how much he had hurt her.

"Damn, Maka. I didn't mean it – look, I'm so-"

"Fuck off, Soul."

Soul was shocked into silence while he watched Maka turned on her heel and walk out of the kitchen. His eyes followed her as she raced to the front door and wrenched it open, her anger giving her muscles adrenaline they needed to work off. She stomped out of the apartment and slammed the door with a blatant _BANG_ and just like that, she was gone.

Soul considered following her and forcing her to listen to his apology, but decided that it'd be better if she just worked off her steam without him to add any more fuel to the fire burning inside her soul again. If he left her alone long enough, she'd eventually come back, exhausted but calm and he would say his apologies, she'd vaguely accept them. Then everything would be fixed between them and they'd go back to being the good friends and partners they had always been. It wasn't anything major to worry about.

She'd come back. She always did. She always would.

He trusted her to come back.

* * *

Maka ran down the street, furiously rubbing the angry and sad tears from her eyes, irritating them but not really giving a damn at the moment. That Soul was such a fucking jerk! Why did he have to be so cruel about such a subject that she was so sensitive to? Besides, the baka didn't know what he was talking about. He didn't know the first goddamn thing about angels and it was infuriating to see him act like he did.

Maka slowed down as she reached the woods at the edge of the city and leaned against a tree, panting heavily. The moon shone above her, smiling down at her as if it were mocking her. _Angels aren't real. Angels aren't real. Angels aren't real._

Yes they were! Angels were real and nobody could tell her otherwise! She knew what she knew. Those people (including Soul) were such ignorant and idiotic nimrods for thinking they were some walking encyclopedias on the fantasy and logic behind angels. Because they didn't know _anything_.

But she did. This she was positively sure of.

Maka looked back up at the moon again and it smiled down on her, but this time it tempted her. It urged her and she wanted so badly to comply. _Do it. Do it. Go on, do it. It'll be fine. Just let go._

Maka sighed and pushed off of the tree. _'It wouldn't hurt if it was only for a few minutes. Besides, I'm pretty stressed, so that's a good excuse,'_ she thought to herself.

And stressed she was. With all of the extra missions that Soul pushed her to take on, she'd been exhausted lately. It was getting to the point where she hardly got up in the mornings to go to school. She was simply too tired to leave the comfort of her bed to do more work.

Not to mention, the fight between her and Soul that had taken place not even ten minutes ago. Maka scowled as his words played back in her head. Hell yeah angels existed!

"That bastard doesn't deserve a guardian angel. I'm not sure why I put up with him sometimes," she muttered as she unzipped her windbreaker and slid it off her shoulders to the ground, revealing the pale yellow camisole she was wearing underneath. She scanned the forest quickly with her eyes to ensure there weren't any intruders and relaxed when she saw none.

"Perfect."

Maka closed her eyes and smiled and just let go. She rose her arms above her head, reaching towards the upper branches of the trees, aiming for the chuckling moon. She could feel the muscles in her upper back pull and stretch and she sighed from the release and relief it performed on her body. She bent over slowly, arms still outstretched as she now strained to touch her toes hips bent at a 90 degree angle and knees locked up to stretch out the backs of her thighs and calves. She cooed at the ease her body felt and eagerly stretched further, hoping to loosen up as much as she could.

After a few more seconds of stretching, Maka straightened up, satisfied and relaxed. She already felt tons better that it felt unnecessary to do it now. But she would, just to get it off her mind so that it wouldn't come back and bug her later tonight when she would be attempting to sleep. So with one more look around the forest, Maka began to stretch out her last set of appendages.

Her wings.

Steadily, white, feathered wings extruded from her back in the space right between her shoulder blades. They were small at first, but as she kept stretching they grew larger and larger, gradually reaching out on both sides of her until they finally reached their full thirteen feet wingspan. Maka stretched her arms above her head again before she flapped her wings, just for good measure. She giggled when the motion caused the air around her to shift and make the leaves danced frantically across the ground, making a soft skidding sound. She flapped them again, earning the same results and giggled again. She couldn't help it. Stretching out her wings made her feel light-hearted and giddy. All of her stress and worries disappeared.

She absent-mindedly stroked one of the white feathers on her right wing and sighed. "See Soul? We exist. You just don't know it." Her smiled faded and was replaced by a upset pout. "And we're not stupid! Just because we don't like to be seen, doesn't mean we're dumb or that we don't exist.

"If only you could see me right now, Soul," she whispered, twisting a single feather between her thumb and index finger.

"But I can."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

**And now, like the cruel, cruel person I am, I will leave it lying here. :) Go on. Hate me.**

**Yeah, I actually had a completely different way of going about this in my original story, but you know what happens as you're actually writing it. Everything's edited or rearranged somehow. :/**

**But I still like it. Maybe not the beginning so much since it was a bit choppy, but yeah, it's not bad. **

**And the reason I really wanted to do a story like this was because as I was reading the manga (when Soul and Maka were learning how to fly) and when Maka was making a big deal out of being like an angel this idea was planted in my head. So I began to ask myself, "What if she were an angel? You know, because of her Grigori soul? And what if she was Soul's guardian angel? Now how would she react if she learned Soul didn't **_**believe**_** in angels?" And it goes on and on and on from there. But I'm afraid that if I list any of the other questions I asked myself, that I'd give something away that will be seen in later chapters. ;)**

**Also, yes, I know it was a bit OOC for Soul to snap like that, but hey! Everyone has their limits. Unfortunately for Maka, Soul had reached his.**

**Eh, if you don't think this is interesting, I promise you it will get better, but if you still don't believe me, oh well. Your loss.**

**I don't own Soul Eater. Otherwise there wouldn't be a single virgin in there. :3 And it'd be gory enough to surpass Elfen Lied's standards. :D**

**Until next time~!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Maka whipped around faster than light and felt her heart leap to her throat when she identified the intruder. She self-consciously tucked her wings in and folded them neatly, pressing them against her back. After getting over her initial shock, she scowled and crossed her arms.

"Why are you here?" she spat, glaring up at the trespasser currently stationed in the trees.

"What?" the figure said. "I can't greet a long-time friend? How've ya been?"

Maka's eyes narrowed into slits. "Go back underground where you belong."

The dark figure jumped down from the branches, uncloaking himself in the moonlight. Brown, mopped hair was strewn across the top of his head, falling down to the back of his neck. It clung to his head as if it were wet and flipped up at the ends. His dark brown eyes laughed mischievously as they looked Maka up and down. He wore a silver and black graphic t-shirt and black jeans accented with combat boots. He smiled egotistically causing Maka to roll her eyes.

He was a handsome man, no doubt about it. He'd more than likely had his fair share of beautiful women throwing themselves at him. But his looks and charm were the main attention grabbers. His obsidian black, feathered wings were. They shone navy blue and dark purple in the moon's dim light. If you were to look in the dictionary, a picture of his wings would be placed next to the word "divine."

The young man put his hand over his heart and mock gasped. "Ouch! So feisty!" His hand dropped back to his side and he smiled again. "Just like I remembered."

"Just shut up alright?" Maka snapped.

The dark angel in front of her laughed and stepped closer, folding his own wings against his back. "Still got that back, I see." He walked behind Maka while she stood stock-still, noting the smidge of curiosity in her eyes. He ran a single, lean finger down one of her wings, earning a half-surprised shudder from her. "But do you still have that bite of yours?"

"Please!" Maka scoffed. "I can still kick your ass any day of the week."

The man quirked an eyebrow and smirked. "Is that a challenge?"

"Do you want it to be?"

"Why not? It'll give me a chance to show off some new moves of mine."

"And you have moves to begin with?"

The man winced and placed both of his hands on Maka's shoulders. "Ouch. Blow to the ego, Maka."

Maka sighed and shrugged his hands off of her shoulders. "I'm not in the mood for your games, Grayson," she hissed and turned around to face him.

Grayson straightened up and delved his olive-skinned hands into his pockets. "Right, right. I'm here on business anyway." He kicked a small rock beside his foot and they both watched as it skidded across the forest floor.

"Business?" Maka questioned. Who would've thought that Grayson, her childhood friend who cringed at the mere words "business" and "serious", could be visiting her on business matters? As a kid, he was always goofing and clowning around. It took hours to get the kid to calm down. Sure, as he matured, he lost most of his hyperness, but his inner child remained in his heart. And as much as it annoyed Maka to no end, she had to appreciate the last bit of light his heart contained.

"Yep," he answered. "You know the organization I joined?"

Maka scowled. She did all too well. "Yeah and I still don't approve."

Grayson stuck out his lower lip in a mock pout and wiped at his eye. "Don't say such mean things, Maka-chan." He reached out for her arm but she stepped back and shot him a look that clearly told him to back off. He raised both of his hands in defeat. "Fine. Say what you want."

"So what kind of business are you here for?" Maka prompted.

Grayson instantly sobered and sighed. His posture tensed until he was standing straight, unveiling his actual height. Maka couldn't help but shrink a little and feel awfully short and inferior. She straightened up, attempting to remain on equal level with the dark angel before her.

"The organization is rather small as you know," began Grayson sounding awfully like a businessman selling a pitch for his product, except in a more suave and dark manner. He could sell _anything_ and _everything_ with that tone. "So they're seeking out new recruits in order to increase our numbers." He gave Maka a pointed look, hinting at something she had yet to catch onto. Silence filled the air between them while Grayson allowed Maka to process his message. He knew she had when her eyes slowly widened in disbelief.

"They want you, Maka," Grayson confirmed.

"No!" screeched Maka. She backed away rapidly, stumbling over fallen branches and spiked gumballs. "No way in hell!" Her chest rose and fell rapidly as her anger took control of her breathing.

He knew, that damned Grayson _knew_ how much she hated – scratch that, how much she _loathed_ the organization he was in. She opposed it and anything else the Fallen were associated with. They were nothing but a bunch of arrogant bastards looking to disrupt everything that she and her kind worked so hard to maintain.

They were damned, evil fools.

"Now c'mon, Maka-chan! Just relax and think for a moment," Grayson said as he began to walk towards her.

"No!" shouted Maka. Another twig announced with a snap under her foot that it had been broken in two as Maka backed up another step. "How. . .why did you think you could ask me that, Grayson? You_ know_ how I feel about them! They're nothing but pompous sons of bitches who don't know how to leave things lay as they are!" she seethed. She turned her back to Grayson and ground her teeth in frustration. "We work so hard to protect what you guys destroy," she muttered.

"I can't believe you joined those bastards, Grayson." She walked over to the tree where she had discarded her windbreaker and bent down to pick it up. She wasn't necessarily planning on going home just yet and face Soul, but she surely couldn't stand anymore of Grayson right now either. She'd go to the park or the bookstore or something.

Maka's thin fingers had just brushed the soft fabric of her windbreaker and were ready to close around a handful of it when a sharp pain shot down her back. Her high-pitched scream woke all of the creatures sleeping in the forest and probably a few people who lived nearby. The rustle of leaves in front of her betrayed a frightened squirrel that was running far away from the girl screeching in pain.

Her offender, Grayson, yanked her up by her wing and held her up in mid-air. He adjusted his hold on her wing to gain a better grip as she flailed wildly, screaming and swearing as she tried to kick him.

"Put me down! Grayson!" Unwanted tears sped down her cheeks and she let out a string of pathetic whimpers. Her feet clawed for the forest floor on instinct, looking for relief from the pain. "Grayson, it hurts!"

"Then take it back." Grayson looked down at her, all traces of his playful personality absent. It wasn't even his business tone anymore. This was pure menace, something that Maka had never seen and thought she never would. This man before her was an entirely different person.

They had changed her best friend.

"Take back what you said about them," he commanded. His brown hair hung down limply, half-covering his now cold and solid eyes.

"Grayson," whimpered Maka. She winced as she felt like her wing was about to be ripped from its socket and a few more tears slipped down her face. "Stop," she pleaded. "Grayson, they're sensitive!" She began to wiggle in a feeble attempt to slide out of his grasp but only managed to jolt her wing roughly and send another mind-numbing jolt of pain down her back. She gave out a strangled cry of pain and felt extra fuel being added to the fire between her shoulder blades.

"I said to take it back!" he shouted at her, fury driving him and taking complete control of his body. It must have, otherwise he wouldn't be doing something so cruel and heartless to someone he loved dearly. He was like a sister to him and Maka knew this because he had told her that on many occasions. But now that stupid organization had turned him into some kind of madman. Grayson began to shake Maka up and down vigorously, passing off Maka's pain-filled shouts as if they were just whispers of the wind.

"GRAYSON!"

Something in Grayson snapped back and the dark aura around him dissipated as easy as if a switch was thrown. He rubbed at his eyes with his free hand and when it was removed, they had converted back to their warm, chestnut brown. He looked over at the sobbing Maka that he held in the air and dropped her immediately in shock and panic. She crumpled into a ball upon impact with the ground and took a shuddering breath.

"Maka! Shit! I'm so sorry! I don't-"

Maka looked up at him, eyes betraying how broken she currently felt by stars of tears, shining brightly in the moonlight. His heart plummeted all the way down to his feet as he watched her lips tremble slightly at the struggle of trying to hold back anymore of her tears. The sad, sympathetic look she gave him made him feel absolutely terrible; enough to be willing to have his own wings be ripped out by hand.

"Dammit, Grayson. You know how sensitive my wings are," she whispered and reached back to rub the irritated spot. "That hurt, you jackass."

Grayson knelt down behind Maka and nudged her hand away, taking its place with his own. He massaged around the wing and guiltily wiped off a trickle of blood that was beginning to trail down her back and stain her shirt.

"I got blood on your shirt. Sorry," he apologized. Maka sighed and slumped forward farther.

"Whatever. This shirt's getting old anyway," she muttered.

Grayson wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her backwards against his chest. "I know that you're against G.O.D, but at least consider it. Please? For me," he added, rubbing his chilled nose along Maka's warm shoulders.

"Grayson," sighed Maka. She rested her head against his shoulders and brought her knees up to her chest. "I'm a Guardian and I have a protin to take care of."

"Soul Evans. Piano music prodigy from the wealthy music-producing Evans family. Demon scythe and student at Shibusen, recently converted to a deathscythe. Emancipated from parents in 2005 before moving to Death City, Nevada. Seventeen years old and is currently five-foot-eight. White hair, red eyes, tan skin, sharp teeth. Favorite music is jazz and rock. Infected with Black Blood in 2006 by Chrona Makenshi during a mission in Italy. Favorite-"

"How in the hell do you know all that?" interrupted Maka harshly as she craned her neck to look at Grayson.

"It's in his file."

"File?"

"Yep." Grayson stretched out his legs in front of him, one on each side of Maka. "And that thing is thick! Guy's got a lot of history you know."

"But how-?"

"You guys aren't the only ones with archives."

Maka stayed silent as she played with the hem of her camisole, pulling at a stray string unraveling from the bottom. They had files on humans like Soul? Or was it just the humans who were protins? But why would they have any of these files in the first place? Whatever the reason, Maka knew it couldn't be good considering it involved the Fallen. She wanted to ask Grayson for more information. After all, he was her friend. But he was also one of them, so she held her tongue and decided it could wait.

But she still felt unnerved by this new-known fact and had the strong impulse to rush home and check on Soul. Maybe Grayson wasn't the only G.O.D. member here. What if they were using Grayson to distract her so that they could kidnap – or worse – kill Soul? She had to go back. Just to check in on him.

"Don't worry. Your protin's safe for now," Grayson assured, being some kind of weird mind reader.

But Maka didn't relax. At Shibusen, meisters (and voluntary weapons) were trained to have keen hearing to pay attention to everything said. That way, eavesdropping on missions would be like second nature. That, and they never missed anything said in a sentence, even if the person began to mumble.

"For now?" she questioned.

Grayson sighed in an "I'm-bored-with-this" manner and moved her so her could stand up. When he did, he kindly offered Maka his hand and helped her up. Once they were both standing up he shoved his hands into the shallow recesses of his pockets.

"Yeah, about that. You see, G.O.D. doesn't take no for answer. So if that's what you tell them, they're going to find a way of changing your mind."

Maka felt a queasy sensation at the pit of her stomach and back of her throat and fought down the need to gag. Sweat built up in her palms and the back of neck got warm. She did _not_ like where this was going. "Just get to the point."

Grayson reluctantly turned to face her with a sullen look in his chestnut eyes. "Maka, if you don't join us, they're going to kill your protin."

Maka stood there silently, unmoving and expressionless. His fists slowly clenched into fists at her side and she clenched down on her jaw.

Soul.

They wanted to kill Soul.

They were always destroying what she and her clan were struggling to protect. Nothing so small as a human soul could matter to them. So Maka knew that they wouldn't even spare a second of hesitation if they really wanted to kill him.

"Just think about it. Okay, Maka? I'll be back later for your answer," said Grayson as he unfolded his wings to their full length – fifteen feet – and jumped straight up onto the lowest tree branch. "See ya, Angel-chan!"

"Stay away from us, you hear me? Don't let me see either you or one of your little friends here ever again! Just stay! Away!" screamed Maka.

Grayson's shadowed form wordlessly shrugged nonchalantly before taking off into the sky. His black wings blended into the night sky, something her bright white wings could never do. But she didn't mind her white wings. They told her she was on the right path.

And right now, that path was protecting Soul.

A wave of worry swept Maka up as her legs carried her out of the forest, carried her home, and carried her to Soul. She retracted her wings into her back to prevent any trouble in case someone happened to look out their window.

Silent but jumbled chants and pleads bounced around Maka's head as buildings whirled around her in a blur and streetlamps became solid strings of light.

_'Please let Grayson be the only one who came.'_

_'Let Soul be smart enough to lock up the house.'_

_'Let Soul be okay.'_

_'Let Soul be okay.'_

_'Dammit. That jackass better be okay.'_

Rounding the corner onto their street, Maka felt like collapsing from exhaustion, stress, and the throbbing pain in her upper back. That Grayson had _really_ done a number on her and he was so going to pay later.

_**38A**_

Breathless, Maka looked up at the golden plate on the door to her and Soul's (alright, alright and Blair's) apartment. She fumbled with the doorknob, cursing aloud when she discovered that it was _not_ locked. Bursting into the apartment now more stung out than ever, she was ultimately relieved to find Soul sitting on the couch watching TV.

Ruby eyes turned to her upon her noisy entrance and widened when they took in her disheveled appearance. The wind from her non-stop running must've strewn her hair all about, her clothes were probably caked in dirt and Maka could still feel the wetness of her tears on her cheeks. She must've looked like an absolute mess.

Not that she really cared at the moment. Gasping deeply but smiling nonetheless, she eagerly ran over to her partner and jumped onto his lap, throwing her arms around his neck. "Soul!"

Soul looked at Maka questionably and sat there, unmoving and unsure. "Maka? What's going on?"

"Soul! Soul, you're okay!" she shouted into his chest.

The albino quirked a silver eyebrow. "Yeah. . .I'm okay. Mind telling me why I wouldn't be?"

Instead of answering his question, Maka sat up and turned around, facing away from him. "Nothing. Nothing at all. I jus-"

"Holy shit, Maka! Your back!"

"What about it?"

Maka felt Soul run a single finger across her upper back and shivered at the contact, even if his intentions were not what she thought. He gripped her shoulder and turned her around to face him, showing her his finger. The tip was coated in blood and Maka gasped. "Soul!"

"It's yours."

"Wha-?" Oh. It must've been from when Grayson had pulled on her wing. He did say that he had gotten blood on her shirt. Although, he had failed to tell her that it was _still_ bleeding. Maybe that's why it throbbed so much on the way home.

"Maka, what happened?"

The blonde-haired meister shrugged and stood up casually, trying to mislead him into a state of calm by acting like the pain wasn't searing through her whole nervous system. "Eh. It's just a scratch. I tripped."

Soul silently stared at her, but her eyes refused to meet his. Instead she gazed around the room and shuffled her feet on the carpet. She knew that if she did look at him, she'd probably break down crying and telling him _everything_. Including why she was _really_ his partner.

And that was something that she had sworn that she'd carry to her grave.

"Well, I'm sure there's blood on my shirt now. I'm going to go wash it and see if I can get the stain out." Maka glanced at Soul out of the corner out of her eye and saw his stern gaze before quickly looking away again. "I promise, it doesn't hurt that much. I can barely feel it."

Maka swiveled on her heel and headed for her room, rushing to get there before anymore probing questions could be directed at her. But a hand whipped out to grip her wrist and she was yanked back roughly until she stood in front of Soul. She tilted her head back to look at his face and inwardly sighed. Was everyone getting taller than her now?

"Maka, do not lie to me."

Maka rolled her eyes and scoffed. "I am not lying to you-ouch!" She winced and bit down on her lower lip when Soul's fingers grazed the sore spot on her back, dirtying them with more of her blood. "Dammit, Soul!"

"See? It does hurt. You are such a dirty liar, Maka."

"So what if it hurts? I can take care of myself, you know. I'm not some helpless little-hey! Put me down!"

Soul ignored Maka's protests as he carried her over to the couch on his shoulder before sliding her off onto the cushions with a soft bounce. She scowled up at him and he turned away, heading towards the bathroom.

"Stay on that couch or I will be forced to bring out the duct tape!" he called over his shoulder.

Maka crossed her arms and harshly blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Whatever."

A few seconds later, her partner came out of the bathroom with a bottle of antiseptic, cotton balls, and a large cohesive bandage. Maka squirmed uncomfortably and scooted away from him when he plopped down on the couch beside her. "None of that is necessary, Soul. I'll just take a shower." Besides, angels healed relatively fast, but that wasn't something she was going to say out loud.

"Nope. We're doing this my way. Now turn around," Soul said, dabbing antiseptic onto a cotton ball. Maka grumbled something along the lines of "such an egotistic jackass" but complied and turned around, revealing her bloodied back to him. He began to gently dab at her wound with the cotton ball and Maka hissed as it felt as though her skin was going to melt off.

"Aaaaaah!"

Soul rolled his eyes. "It's going to burn, dumbass, you know that." In spite of his harsh words, though, Maka could feel that he was gentler as he continued cleaning it. It still stung, but not enough to elicit any sounds from the two-star meister besides a hiss here and there. Once he was done, Soul took a dry cotton ball and wiped off any excess blood and dried up the wound completely before applying the bandage.

As Soul gathered up all of the trash and unused cotton balls, Maka pulled at her shirt. She noted in the back of her mind that she was going to stretch it out if she kept doing this, but honestly it just wasn't that important. "Thanks," she muttered, swiveling on the couch to face him. "It wasn't necessary, but thanks."

"Eh. Just get changed and give me your shirt. I'll wash it. You just need to get into bed. You'll heal faster if you rest," Soul said.

"But I-"

Soul sighed and crouched down in front of Maka looking directly into her eyes. "There's no room for an argument, Maka. What I say, goes. Now hurry up."

Maka glared at Soul heatedly and crossed her eyes, stubbornly remaining on the couch. He stared back at her, calm and collected, just as stubborn as she was.

"Maka. If you don't go change out of your clothes and get in bed, I will do it for you. Do not make me undress you."

Maka screeched in annoyance and stood up, knocking Soul back a few steps. "Why are you so difficult, Soul?" she screamed before stomping off to her room and slamming her door shut behind her. Once inside her room, she kicked her door for good measure before dropping down onto her bed and laying back, staring up at her ceiling.

Sure, she knew that he was just trying to help. But he was acting so cocky and dominant while he did it, which is the real thing that pissed her off. But overall, she didn't like it because it then made her feel useless.

If he was protecting her all of the time, how could she ever try to give him the same protection?

* * *

**Author's Comments:**

**Crap. This chapter is crap. =_= I didn't like some of these parts at all, but it's the best I can come up with. **

**Crap. I am crap. =_=**

**Eh, besides the suckish quality of some of these parts (if not all) how was it?**

**Holy shit. I am suddenly exhausted and annoyed. =_= I need a pillow to rip to shreds. DX Nyeeeeeeeeeeeh! Now I feel like crap!**

***goes into self-pity ranting session***

**Reviews? They'll calm me down (hopefully).**

**Until next time~!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Sunlight poured into the bedroom, filtered by the soft beige curtains covering the window. A few rays of light spilled past what the curtains neglected onto the sleeping girl in her bed. Golden radiation flowed down waterfalls of blonde hair, curling and weaving smoothly with the glowing tresses. Light covered her serene face with warmth, acting as a radial blanket.

The girl on which the sunlight was so focused on yawned and turned over to her side. She furrowed her head into her pillow and curled up into a ball, greedily taking in the laughing sun's warmth. Pale eyelids fluttered open and blinked away the hazy film clouding her vision. Soft, green eyes fully opened to find a white-haired demon scythe kneeling next to the bed, crimson eyes watching her.

"Yo," said Soul.

Maka frowned and sat up, questioning Soul with her eyes which had lost all traces of calamity and softness. "Were you watching me while I slept?" she blurted.

Soul rolled his eyes and reached to the back of his head to scratch it. He looked down at the floor then back at her. "What reason would I have to watch _you_ sleep? That's something uncool stalkers do."

"You avoided my question."

"I came to wake you up, alright?"

"So why were you just sitting there?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"And you avoid a lot of questions."

Soul sighed heavily and stood up. "Just get up and come eat the freaking breakfast I made you." He turned around and walked out of the room casually while Maka stretched her back. Only a few seconds had passed before he poked his head back into her open doorway. "Oh, and you're welcome for cleaning the blood off of your shirt." He jerked his head, motioning to the neatly folded camisole at the foot of her bed. "It was a bitch to get out, too."

Maka stared at the camisole dumbly wondering why she wasn't wearing it. And if she wasn't wearing that, what was she wearing? She looked down to see herself in a loose white t-shirt that would've fallen down to her mid-thighs if she were to stand up. To her discomfort, that was the only thing she was wearing besides a pair of black bikini underwear.

Maka whipped her head back up to face Soul and nearly deafened him when she screeched, "Did you dress me while I was asleep?"

Soul stepped back into the room completely and crossed his arms. "Well, first off, you fell asleep when I asked for you to remove your shirt so I could wash it."

"So you _stripped_ me?"

Soul's eye twitched and he gritted his teeth together. His bubble-headed meister was always jumping to conclusions which always ended him up in some sort of trouble with her. Wouldn't she ever learn to just slow down and listen before she assumed? "Would you let me finish?" When Maka plopped down on her bed, silently seething and her green eyes demanding an explanation, Soul continued. "You fell asleep when I was going to wash your shirt. So I got _Blair_ to undress you and then I washed your dumb shirt. Which, I will repeat, was a bitch. Not that I'm expecting a thank you or anything," he finished sarcastically.

Expecting Maka to deflate and apologize, Soul was surprised when instead she fell onto her back and groaned. Her arms were stretched above her head and her legs were slightly spread apart, teasing him with a bit of Maka's underwear. Soul suppressed the urge to tilt down and take a quick peek through her thighs at her panties, wanting to give in desperately to his dirty needs. His nose scrunched up in disgust at the thought (him dirtying his meister, not Maka herself) and turned to face the wall to distract himself. He intensely took note of the chipping yellow paint peeling off of the walls and made a mental note to repaint her room sometime soon.

"That's even worse," Maka groaned from her bed. She sat back up and looked pointedly at her partner who was studying her wall like a professor would his test subject: overly intent and contemplating. His hands were buried deep within his jeans pockets and he was slouched forward, defying all rules of proper posture. But they were in their own house after all, so what harm was he really causing?

"You let our slutty cat dress me?"

Soul turned back to his upset meister and locked eyes with her; red to green and green to red. "Would you have rather had me do it?"

Maka opened her mouth to retort but closed it and shrank back into her sheets as a light pink blush at the thought of a guy dressing her filled her mind. And not just any guy. Soul. Her _weapon_. "You could've just woke me up."

"And suffer brain damage from this week's novel? No thanks."

Maka rolled her eyes and brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Soul figured she must've forgotten that she wasn't wearing pants because her current position gave him a _fantastic_ view of her black panties. Soul, panicked and strangely excited by this, turned his attention back to the poorly painted wall, praying that she would put her legs down and conceal herself and regain her dignity. And he prayed she would do this before he lost his.

"It's a paperback this week, you wuss," she spoke up and Soul made the mistake of facing her again. He happily drank in an eyeful of her lengthy and well-built legs, going on for miles. The blood couldn't have rushed to his face any faster. A warm, fluid – blood, no doubt – trickled from one of Soul's nostrils. It wasn't a fountain of blood that Blair normally caused (which Soul was excessively grateful for), but it was still noticeable. Before Maka could spot his little problem, he whipped around and left the room in rushed strides.

"Whatever! Just come and eat your breakfast before it gets cold!" he called to her without looking back.

Maka watched curiously as Soul bounded out of her room, one of his hands holding something on his face. She ran her fingers through her loose blonde hair and stood up.

"What's his problem?"

* * *

Soul walked out of the bathroom, wiping his wet face with a towel. Thinking back to the. . .interesting display Maka unintentionally gave him, Soul vowed to _never_ let Blair dress Maka again.

He walked into the kitchen after disposing the towel in the laundry room and found Maka heating up her plate in the microwave. She turned around and smiled at him. Soul briefly noted that she still hadn't bothered to put on pants. He sighed and sat down in front of his own plate, his back turned to his meister as to prevent himself from pouncing on her.

Maka may have lacked a chest and the sex appeal that most men searched for, but she could definitely be provocative. Given the fact that it was unintentional though, it made it all the more awkward to ask her to stop what she was doing. Not to mention, he'd probably have to have surgery to remove the book that Maka would embed into his head. So her would remain quiet and ignore all of his meister's suggestive actions the best he could.

But that was so flippin' hard.

Two frail arms wrapped around his shoulders and squeezed him, making Soul jump. His surprise went unnoticed by Maka who just leaned down and put her chin on his shoulder. Soul squirmed uncomfortably and thanked Shinigami that there was a back to the chair. If not, all would've been a disaster as if Kid saw Van Gogh. There was but so much a hormonal teenage boy could take and having a girl press into his back was past his limit.

"You made my favorite!" she exclaimed.

Soul cleared his throat and squirmed again, giving her subtle hints to get off before he did something he would regret. "Yeah. It looked like you had a tough night yesterday, so this is my way of saying sorry, I guess."

The grip around his shoulders slackened and the head on his shoulder grew heavier, digging Maka's chin into his shoulder. Soul took his chance to attempt to shrug her off again and was relieved when this time she complied. A grumbled "oh" slipped past her lips just as the microwave beeped, announcing the food inside was done. Maka didn't move towards it, but instead stared at the floor. She was slumped over and her head hung down with her hair surrounding her face like a curtain.

Quick and depressing flashes of the previous night's encounters wove in and out of her mind, reminding her of the cause of her worry-filled nightmares. Soul's life was at stake because of her. Why couldn't they leave him out of it? Their focus was her, right? That's all they wanted (not that she agreed, but still).

"Maka!"

Soul's voice cut into Maka's daze, harshly snapping her back into reality. She blinked and looked down at the table. Splinters formed a jagged circle around her closed fist and a crack zigzagged from the dent to the end of the table.

"Oops," she whispered.

"What's wrong with you, Maka?" Soul shouted. He stood up from his chair abruptly and knocked it to the floor in his haste. He picked up Maka's hand that was embedded into the kitchen table by her wrist and inspected the splinters impaled in the side of her hand. When he reached to pull one of them out, her hand was yanked from his rudely. He looked back up at his meister who had a pissed off look on her face as she wrapped her hand around her wrist.

"It's nothing," she said darkly, stalking off to her room and slamming the door shut.

After Maka had closed herself off in her room, Soul ran his hand down his face and looked around the messy kitchen. He picked up his chair from the floor and sat it upright again, running over what had just happened. First, she was all peppy and cute while thanking him for breakfast. Then, she goes all psychopath on him and smashed in their table. Lastly, she shut herself off in room, distancing herself from him.

"What's going on, Maka?" sighed Soul.

* * *

The day progressed and Maka still refused to leave her bedroom. This put Soul a little on edge, but whether it was because he felt responsible for her because he was her weapon or because he felt like he was the cause of her misery he couldn't decide. But if anything, he hoped it wasn't the latter. He already upset her once last night, he didn't wish to do it again.

A couple of times throughout the morning, Soul stood outside her door, using wishful thinking like it would force Maka to come out and talk to him. As expected though, it didn't work. But logic didn't keep him from standing at her door, trying to develop x-ray vision to see inside. It didn't grant his wishes, but it didn't stop him from trying either.

Cruel, cruel logic.

Eventually, Soul decided that if Maka wanted to talk about what was bothering her, she would tell him. She'd come to him when she was ready.

So why couldn't she be ready now, dammit? Regret and helplessness flowed into him from their link (which he hoped Maka didn't notice was open, otherwise she'd cut it off). It was eating at him that he couldn't do anything to help just because Maka didn't want it.

Finally coming to the conclusion that standing outside of her door wasn't doing anyone any good, Soul sighed heavily and walked into the living room. He fell backwards onto the couch, the cushions softening his fall. His thick hand wove through his light, spiked hair. He propped his socked feet onto the coffee table across from him and sank deeper into the couch.

"Not even Asura himself can drive me as insane as you do, Maka," he muttered under his breath and closed his eyes.

"Feet off of my coffee table."

Soul jumped in surprise at his meister's sudden voice beside him and opened his eyes to see her standing to his right, with her hands on her hips. She had changed out of her shirt and now wore a loose pair of sweatpants and a gray t-shirt. Her hair was still down but looked neater and shinier. _'Must've brushed it,'_ Soul mused.

"Were you getting dressed that whole time?" Soul questioned. Internally he was relieved and happy that Maka didn't seem too depressed, but he had an image to maintain. So leaping from the couch and suffocating her in a hug was definitely out of the question.

"Is it really any of your business what I'm doing in my room?"

"Yes."

"So if I was practicing voodoo rituals in my room I have to consult you first?"

"Pretty much."

Maka rolled her eyes. "You're such an idiot."

"But I'm your idiot," Soul said, smirking.

"Yeah," Maka agreed quietly, eyes drifting up to look out the window at the bright atmosphere outside. "So anyways, put your shoes on. I called the others and we're all meeting up for a basketball game at three."

"Three?" echoed Soul. He looked up at their wall clock and back at his meister. "But it's only two."

"I know. You and I are going there early so you can teach me how to play," Maka explained. She walked over to the door and crossed her arms. "Now c'mon!"

Soul chuckled and shook his head at his meister's impatience, feeling better now that she was. "So demanding."

* * *

"You can't even catch the ball! How do you expect to play if you can't even catch it!"

"I can catch it! The ball's just being stubborn!"

"Just like the hoop was being stubborn earlier?"

"Exactly like that!"

"You're hopeless, Maka."

Maka fell to the ground and crossed her legs so that she was sitting Indian style. "I'm trying, Soul! It's just. . .I don't know. Basketball isn't my thing." She huffed out of frustration and frowned, glaring at the basketball resting in front of her. "Maybe this was a bad idea."

Soul looked down at his meister who was beginning to fall into the same pit of misery from earlier. He started to feel panicked and promised himself he wouldn't let her sulk alone again. It tortured him enough the first time, another time would make him go absolutely mad. He sighed and knelt down in front of her, picking up the basketball that taunted her.

"Stop rolling around in your self-pity, Maka. You're not going to get it the first time. Just like we have to practice for new techniques, you have to practice the basics of basketball." He rolled the ball over to Maka where it halted when it reached her feet. "So c'mon. Let's throw a little more before the others get here."

Maka looked up at her partner warily before she smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Okay." She stood up and bounced the ball once before she tossed it to Soul who hardly caught it soaring over his head. Maka winced and grumbled a soft, "My bad."

Soul shook his head. "Nah. That was good. Just. . .bring it down a bit, okay?" He tossed the ball back to Maka who wasn't expecting it. She freaked out at the sight of the oncoming ball and jumped out of the way with a frightened squeak. Soul slapped his forehead with the palm of his hand and growled. "Maka!"

"Sorry! I'm sorry! I didn't – I'll just go get the ball now!" She sent him an apologetic smile that made Soul's stomach flip. He watched her run off to where the ball disappeared and reprimanded himself for becoming so soft just because of his partner.

"You're losing your cool, dude," he lectured himself.

Meanwhile, Maka jogged down the alleyway leading from the courts to the streets, scanning the ground for a bright orange. She sighed and slowed down when she reached the end, wondering why she couldn't find it. Maybe she had missed it because it was hiding underneath something. This time she would walk down and check underneath any place a basketball could fit.

As she passed the middle of the alley that intersected with another darker alleyway, she bent down to lift up a crate. A hand from nowhere reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the darker alleyway. She shrieked when she was pinned against a wall and swung her right arm instinctively at her offender. She smiled, satisfied when she managed to punch whoever it was in the jaw.

"Got quite an arm there," the figure spoke, still holding her against the wall while he rubbed his chin. "I see why they want you so bad."

Maka growled uncharacteristically and swung her arm again. This time though, the man caught it and pinned that wrist to the wall. She struggled against his grasp wildly while trying to kick him as he came closer. "Get off of me, you son of a bitch!"

"Now is that any way to treat a friend of Grayson's?"

_'Ah. So that's what this was about.'_

"Well, if you really are one of Grayson's friends, then yes. Yes it is."

"That's not very lady-like."

Maka rolled her eyes and ground her teeth together in anger. "And I'm supposed to give a shit?"

The man chuckled and leaned closer, unmasking his face from the shadows. He was your typical brute: stubble on his chin, square jaw, and a long, white scar on the left side of his face in deep contrast to his dark tan skin.

"Oh, you'll be fun," he said, smiling.

"Sick bastard," spat Maka as she aimed another kick to his leg. "I said for all of you to stay away from here!"

The man sighed and backed away a little, but didn't let up his grip on her wrists. "Calm down. I'm not here to kidnap you or kill your precious protin."

Maka stopped struggling and narrowed her eyes. "So what are you here for, then?"

The man chuckled and licked his lips. "Well, they never mentioned how _delicious_ you looked."

Maka scowled and aimed another kick at him that he easily dodged. "Try it and I'll kick your ass."

"I'm joking! I'm joking!" he laughed as if this were a normal conversation between two old friends instead of her being held captive against a brick wall. "Partly anyways," he added with a smirk. "But actually, I'm just here to return something that's rightfully yours. It's from Grayson." With that, he let go of Maka but made sure to block her path of escape. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a henna bracelet. It was the classic light brown henna string, worn down to soft thread-like strands from being worn so much. It was braided neatly and beautifully. It was plain, but it was always Maka's favorite.

You know, before she lost it.

"How'd you get that?" she demanded. He tossed it to her and turned away before he kicked the missing basketball over to her too.

"Doesn't matter. Grayson just wanted to be sure you got it. I'll see you later, Albarn." Before Maka could respond, he unfurled his black wings and took off into the sky, leaving a rush of wind behind.

"Dammit," Maka grumbled before she picked up the basketball and walked out of the alley.

"Hey, Maka!" Soul's voice cried out. "You found the ball yet? The others are here!"

Maka sighed and looked up at the sky at the disappearing dark angel. She wanted to take off after him and find out what was going on. But she couldn't just leave and abandon her promised game of basketball. She didn't need to worry them anyways. Her questions would have to be put on hold for later.

"I'm coming!" she yelled and jogged back to the basketball courts.

Up in the sky, Stanton hovered above Death City, eagerly watching Maka run back to her friends to start their game. He smirked and crossed his arms before taking out his sunglasses and sliding them on.

"Yes, Albarn. Let the games begin."

* * *

**Author's Comments:**

**And another character is revealed! Honestly, I wasn't going to properly introduce him until later and do something different this chapter. But what I wanted to do for this one seemed so sudden and would've thrown me off, so I substituted this.**

**Don't get me wrong. This isn't some random filler chapter. This is actually important because just like Grayson, you're going to see a lot of Stanton later on as the plot goes on. The bracelet however wasn't part of my original intentions but it will have some significance (on a scale of 1-10, I'd say 4.5).**

***rubs hands together* I cannot **_**wait**_** to write this one fight scene that I've been planning since the end of chapter 1. **

***SPOILER***

**Psssh! Like I'm going to tell you anything! ;)**

**Really, though. I'd rather keep where I'm going with this under wraps. **

**As for Soul's reaction to Maka, I don't care if anyone thinks it's a bit early for that. I realize that for these kind of stories with an intense plot, they both slowly realize their feelings for each other and then live happily ever after!**

**Bleh. Boring. I like those stories, but I write differently. I always add a small twist whenever I can. So dammit, Soul's attracted to her and she's completely clueless. Not to mention, Maka doesn't like him back (yet!) I'm gonna have some complications first. Because I'm a complicated person.**

**For the part with Soul and Maka practicing at the basketball courts, their conversation was just about exactly like something me and dad had when I first started softball. Our conversation:**

**Dad: Why aren't you hitting the ball? I'm not even throwing it that fast! If you can't hit the ones I throw, how can you hit the fast ones that the girls pitch?**

**Me: I can hit the ball! My bat is just being stubborn!**

**Dad: Just like your glove was being stubborn and refused to catch the ball earlier?**

**Me: Exactly like that.**

**Dad: I'm just going to start throwing these balls at you and you're going to have to defend yourself with that bat. But since it's too stubborn, it looks like you're going to get hit.**

**Me: ;_; Noes!**

**Yeah, I wasn't the best when I first started out. Still not (but I'm way better than a third of the girls on my team)**

**This isn't relevant to the story at all, but I'm addicted to the song But It's Better if You Do by PANIC! At the Disco lately. So, while I'm already planning on writing my own songfic for that, I will love anyone else does it. ;) *hint hint* **

**Lastly, I've started softball this season, and although some of you might know this, that means even **_**less**_** updates. :( I'll try guys, I honestly will, but I've joined a high school team this year (and I'm only in 8****th**** grade. I feel so special) so we honestly have practice everyday (except Sundays). I even have to wake up early on Saturday! *boohoo* That's my day to sleep in too!**

**Anyways, not only that, but this will be my first year pitching, which means I have to spend extra time practicing for that. **

**But that's not all!**

**I was just told today that our local little league doesn't have enough players on their senior team. So since I'm still young enough to qualify for little league, I have to go and join **_**their**_** team too. So now I'm on two softball teams. Which means double the games. :/ Luckily though, it does not mean double the practices.**

**Okay, I'm probably boring you now. Just thought I'd warn you though.**

**Remember to review! If you don't I honestly forget about my stories or just don't get motivated enough to continue them (that's happened with tons of my previous stories).**

**Until next time~!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Soul had seen a lot of strange things since moving into Death City. Monsters with blades as fingers, guys with screws through their head, blood that could turn into a weapon and was the color of obsidian, the sky turning a hellish red color, etc. As a death scythe living in the ever not-so-famous Death City, home of Shinigami-sama himself, these things were pretty normal. Nothing surprised him anymore. In fact, the real surprise would be if Soul didn't see these things on a daily basis.

But nothing he's seen, nothing that Soul had experienced could have prepared him for the display he got so early in the morning. If he didn't know better and wasn't so sure he had gotten enough sleep the previous night, Soul would've said he was dreaming. Because never did the albino-haired death scythe believe that he'd ever see his meister running around in a loose t-shirt, lack of pants and bed head, racing to get ready for school.

"Idiot! Why didn't you wake me up?" she shouted at Soul from the kitchen. Soul watched from the doorway as she shoved two pieces of bread into the toaster.

"You would've hit me."

Maka's eyebrow twitched and she pushed past him roughly, heading to her room. "Yeah? Well I'm about to drop-kick you right now!" she threatened. "I mean really, Soul! You know how important my perfect record is to me!"

"And this is my problem. . .how?" Soul leaned against the kitchen counter and watched the toaster, waiting for his half-assed breakfast.

Maka grunted loudly enough to be heard from inside her closet to where Soul was standing. Soul quirked an eyebrow, impressed. She only got this loud when she was superiorly pissed. Whenever she was in this mood, it was best to leave her alone and let her anger dwindle down to a safe point to actually communicate with her without irritating her any farther. Of course, for Soul, it was only in his nature to add fuel to the fire. And he had the best, overly-angry meister to practice this on. Who would miss such a golden opportunity?

A sane person. That's who.

A hardbound book zoomed through Maka's doorway magically and supposedly by itself. Soul knew better, but it was still amazing how Maka had gotten so good at her aim that she could now throw from around corners. If he hadn't had ducked at the right time, the book would have surely been embedded into his face. Instead, it crashed into the toaster behind him, knocking it to its side just as the toast was done, which popped out into the dirty dishwater in the sink.

"Breakfast is ruined," he called out.

Maka ran out of her room in her usual plaid skirt and combat boots but instead of her blouse and sweater vest, she wore a graphic tee. Her messenger bag was slung over her shoulder and her hair has been brushed and clipped back with two simple red barrettes haphazardly. She surged forward and grabbed for her weapon's wrist. "No time to worry about that! We have ten minutes before class starts!"

Soul found himself being dragged out of the apartment and down the steps in Maka's frantic rush to get to school on time. He rolled his eyes at her want and need to reach the academy on time, deciding it was pointless to get so worked up over something that didn't really matter.

"Maka, you do realize that even if we're a few minutes late, we're not going to explode or anything, right? Even with Stein as a teacher." He twisted her wrist in attempt to become unlatched from his partner, but she held strong and firm.

Maka grunted in response and whipped him around. She practically shoved him into his motorcycle and commanded him to get on and start it. Soul rolled his eyes again, muttering a quick statement on how uncool she was being, before digging his hand into his jean pocket to retrieve his bike's key. When he came up empty, he shoved his hand into his other pocket and checked around. Nothing. To be thorough, he patted his back pockets only for them to end up empty as well.

An explosive feeling resounded in his chest as he chuckled lowly and flashed a sharp-toothed grin. He shrugged and shoved his hands into his leather jacket's pockets. Maka's expression was growing more and more annoyed each passing second, which amused Soul immensely. "I must've left my keys upstairs."

Maka screeched at him and grabbed his upper arm. "I guess we're walking then."

"Oh come on, Maka!"

"Shut it! You're the one who forgot the keys!"

"So what? I can easily go back upstairs and get them!"

"No time!"

Soul yanked his arm from Maka's grasp and slowed down to a leisurely pace. "What? And walking about three miles will take up less time?"

Maka only turned to send him a hateful glare before she sped up into a jog, hoping that she could get to class on time like always. She had a record to maintain after all

* * *

Despite Soul's whining and griping about running a whole three miles to school, the two actually made it to class just as the bell rang. Maka smiled in triumph, satisfied that her perfect record was still intact and flawless. But when she looked up to their usual seats, what she saw made her wish that she had just stayed home, even at the cost of ruining her track record. Her stomach plummeted down to her feet while her heart shot up into her head, a painful pounding attacking it immediately. Dizziness messed with her vision as she continued to stare up into the crowd of students, looking at one face in particular.

What in all that was Shinigami was Grayson doing here?

"Soul, Maka. If you don't mind, would you kindly take your seats so that I can start my lesson?" asked Stein. He stared down at them through the glare of his glasses, hiding his creepy and analyzing eyes. Soul involuntarily shivered and looked down at his meister, who stood stock-still beside him. Her eyes had widened to a considerable size and her mouth was all but hanging open. He gently wrapped a rough hand around her upper arm and tugged her forward.

"C'mon, Maka," he whispered. "Before he decides to cut us open as part of today's lesson."

Maka blinked out of her daze and looked at Soul as if seeing him for the first time that day. Her eyes still contained some of that off-ness and he wouldn't be surprised if she was only half-there and hardly paying attention to their conversation.

Nervously and awkwardly, Maka removed her arm from Soul's hand and backed up a step. "Actually, I'm going to the bathroom real quick. Make sure to catch me up on anything I miss." She waved to him and then excused herself from class. The door swung shut painfully slow behind her, not daring to make a sound in the now quiet atmosphere.

What was that all about? Why did she get all nervous so suddenly? Just a moment ago, she had been feeling cocky and silently rubbing it in Soul's face that walking (ahem, running) three miles in less than ten minutes was possible. Which, in his opinion wasn't fair in the slightest considering she was a meister and had to run all of the time, unlike the weapon's. Wasn't fair at all.

Soul trudged up the steps and plopped down on the bench in front of his desk. All week-end, Maka had seemed in such an off-mood and always had this mysterious aura surrounding her. She was hiding something within that thick aura, one that he could see through for once. And Maka was a pretty open book. Soul knew everything there was to know about his partner. He had known her for years. He could gladly say that he knew his meister best out of everyone, even her own blood kin.

At least, until lately. Because now. . .he just couldn't be sure. She seemed to be hiding things and distancing herself ever so subtle-ly. And it was killing him, to think that maybe Maka was starting to mistrust him. It made him wonder if he had done anything wrong. If he had said anything to hurt her.

_"Look, dumbass. There's no proof that the damned things exist so quit it; you're getting on my nerves. Angels are stupid little creatures manifested by idiotic parents to tell their children as bedtime stories to get them to shut the fuck up and get to sleep. God, Maka! I didn't know you were _that_ stupid! I mean, angels? Give me a fucking break!"_

Oh no. She hadn't taken that so close to the heart, had she? Maka tended to do that. Even if she wasn't directly involved, she'd hold the pain so close to her as if it were centered around her or as if she were the cause. She had probably taken this more personally than Soul had intended. Didn't she just know that he was pissed off? That he didn't really mean any of that. It was all just word vomit that spewed in result of a rotten mood and bad-tasting conversation. He didn't mean to hurt her. She knew that, right? She had to. For someone so smart. . .

Stein began his lesson and was currently writing something on the board in chalk, the squeaking of the chalk running down and across the board causing all of the students to wince. Except for Soul. HE was buried too deep within his thoughts to really care at the moment, Why did Maka have to act to tough and careless when she knew that she was hurting on the inside.

"Dammit, Maka," Soul muttered to himself. "Why in the hell are you so stupid?"

* * *

The sound of something clashing into the metal of a locker reverberated down the Shibusen hallways. No one was around to hear it, though, so no one could've have witnessed it when Maka Albarn slid down the wall and did her best to not hyperventilate. She brought her knees to her chest and ran her bare hands through her loose hair. Why did they wish to make her life so difficult when it was just starting to really settle down for once? They hadn't had many missions lately, summer vacation was approaching at a rapid speed, and Soul was already a deathscythe.

So why now? Why her? Why them?

Times like these were when Maka wished that she was never an angel. She just wanted to tear out her wings and forget everything. Leave everything be and just lead a more normal and unstressful life. Which was still pretty impossible what with fighting kishin eggs and witches to protect innocent souls, but it sure as hell would've been less stressful if she decided to rid herself of these extra appendages.

But Maka knew as well as every other angel: It wasn't the wings that made the angel, but the soul. Her damn Grigori soul. Could a soul change forms if you willed it to hard enough? Could Stein take a look inside her and change her soul's functioning? Or better yet, couldn't everything just go back to how it was before the days her wings were revealed? The times when Maka and her parents were happy and together.

Before the fighting.

Before the hateful words.

Before the painful departures.

Before the trust that had been broken and ripped apart like tissue paper.

And then to add on to all of that, Maka's parents started to grow apart as well. And then before she could blink, Maka stood at the train station as her mother kissed her good bye. Promises were made on her part to behave and do well in school. Her mother promised to send plenty of souvenirs and letters to keep her daughter in the loop.

Maka sighed and threw her head back against the locker. Being an angel was a lot more than just floating in beams of golden light and being saintly. In fact, angels were saintly at all. Nor could they ever find beams of light to float under (Maka chuckled half-heartedly at her own joke). No, being an angel meant kicking serious ass when need be it and then making sure that everything stayed in the order that was intended for this world.

And the blonde scythe meister was getting sick of it. She was becoming exhausted and overwhelmed. Being a Shibusen student and an angel were just too much on one girl's shoulders.

A door closed loudly in the distance, shocking the silence that filled the empty hallways. A rhythmic arrangement of footsteps walked down the hallway, coming towards her. Maka curled up tighter into a ball of pity and misery, hoping to be ignored and passed off as someone who was just skipping class.

And just her luck, the figure stopped right in front of her. Reluctantly, Maka looked up to see Grayson looking down at her, smiling. His hands were shoved deeply into the recesses of his pants pockets and he flipped his side bangs out of his dark eyes that pierced into her mirthly.

"So. . .Miss Albarn. I am told by our professor that you are to show me around the school. Where shall we begin?"

Maka stood up and leaned up until they were a breath's away from each other , eyes narrowed in dangerous slits that you could hardly see past her eyelids. "How about the front door because that's where you'll be leaving this place."

Grayson sighed and backed up. "Really, Maka. I'm just trying to familiarize myself with the school. Is it so wrong to want to know about my surroundings?"

"Yes!" Maka shouted, hardly caring if any teachers heard and came out to investigate. Maybe they would see past Grayson's innocent act and see him for what he truly was: a spy of some sort. "Because that means you plan on staying! And I will not allow that!"

"Look. I'm only here because I was ordered to watch after you. Boss wants to make sure you don't run off in the middle of the night so that we'll have to track you down."

Maka rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, whatever. Do whatever your precious boss wants." She stepped closer again and poked him in his chest. "But I swear, if you touch Soul or harm him in any size, shape, or form, I will skin you alive, gouge out your eyes and rip your tongue out before snapping your lower jaw off and setting you on fire. Are. We. Clear?"

Grayson blinked at the extreme death threat, actually going as far as to let his jaw drop in disbelief. Recollecting himself quickly as to not let Maka know how much she had gotten to him, he put on a devilish smile and licked his bottom lip. "Kinky."

"Oh you sick bastard!"

* * *

**Author's Comments:**

**Death threat was so fun to write. :) And Grayson's reaction was even better. And Maka's was just the icing on the cake.**

**Okay. I finally got asked this question (I can't remember who asked it so if you could would you please step up?). **_**What does the word 'protin' mean?**_** Excellent question! You see, protin is not actually a word. It will not be in any dictionary you find. Because it is a word I made up. Protin is actually a combination of two words: "****prot****ected ****in****terest". Which basically means the object/person that's being watched/bodyguarded/protected. Angel slang.  
**

**Yay! More depth to Grayson and Maka's relationship! For those of you who spotted it, I give you a pat on the back. And a virtual cookie. And no, it is not their conversation. The hint is somewhere in Maka's self-wallowing session in the hallway.**

**Loose t-shirt and underwear is now officially Maka's pj's. Because it's comfortable. *saying from experience* **

**Also, sorry this took awhile to get out. I re-wrote this chapter about 4 times. At first, there was this beginning scene between Grayson and his boss (whose name shall remain unmentioned for now but you are free to guess. And yes, it is a real fallen angel's name. Google all of them and click on the first link. That's where I found it). And then there was this interaction between Grayson and Stanton, which I now deem unimportant. And then I had to re-write the scene where Maka and Soul were rushing out of the house. And now I end up with this because it's 2 in the morning and I'm tired and don't feel like thinking anymore. -.-**

**Lastly, I was originally planning on this being a really long series so I could fully explain everything and give most of the characters a time to shine, but that's likely to be twenty or so chapters. ._. I'm trying to keep this about twenty or less, a little more if absolutely necessary. So a lot of things are going to be left open-ended and kinda empty.**

**Now don't get pissed or upset. I have good reason behind this. I'm planning on doing a sequel for this (haha, only the 4th chapter and I'm already planning a sequel) so I think that any unanswered questions will probably be left there. And some of you may not be happy about a sequel (I know some people aren't really into them), but if I didn't have a sequel planned, Maka was going to die at the end. Okay? So the sequel saved her. Be happy.**

**Spoiler for sequel (in one word): Demons. Nuff said.**

**Until next time~!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

_There were roughly a thousand children running around the streets of Death City as the smiling moon watched over them. Smiles, laughter and recitations of "Trick-or-Treat" were the cheerful chorus on that Halloween night. Candy sliding down pillow cases and plastic bags and plunking down to the bottom of buckets became a background tune. Doorbell chimes and feet pattering on pavement formed a steady beat to the melody of the frightful holiday._

_ And a young, newly born angel was in the throng of it all. The glowing Halloween lights in the shapes of ghosts, pumpkins and spiders attracted her eyes and made them shine bright oranges, purples and greens. Children ran around her, racing from door-to-door in search for the best supplier. In the spirit of the holiday, Shinigami-sama had replaced all of the candles in the streetlights with special candles that burned with blue-hued fire. Shinigami skulls hung from many of the buildings (even more so than usual) following the children running sown the sidewalks in their creative and bright costumes. The aura around the city was incredibly eerie. _

_ There were roughly a thousand children running around Death City._

_ But only one caught Maka's attention._

_ He wasn't wearing a costume; that was the first thing that caught her eye. Every child she'd seen tonight – infants and young teens included – had been wearing some form of a costume. Even a few adults decided to partake in the Halloween spirit and sported plastic devil horns and cheap eye patches or wore synthetic angel wings. But not this kid. He wore a dark shirt and denim jeans and practically blended into the shadowed background. No feathers, no horns, no sparkles, no rubber, no pixie dust. Nothing._

_ Another thing was that he wasn't asking for candy or even smiling. All children were smiling and being granted sweets except him. He didn't seem ready to join in on the sweet-gathering festivities. He probably didn't even _want_ to. Maybe he didn't think that he belonged with the rest of them. Like he was too much of an outcast to fit into their clusters of friends. He looked lonely and barricaded off. _

_ That didn't settle well with Maka. Halloween was the best holiday of the year in her eyes – from the candy to dressing up. To see someone sitting out and looking so sad made the young girl feel guilty that she was having fun and he wasn't. Adults considered her a very empathic child. _

_ They also considered her a very rash child._

_ An onslaught of "Hey!"'s and "Stop pushing!"'s fell upon Maka's un-listening ears as she continued to push through the cliques of kids awaiting the promise of sugar guaranteeing them cavities. Her only concern was to reach the strange, out-of-place boy standing at the mouth of an alley. She wanted to feel included._

_ "Hey!" she called to him, waving her free pudgy, little hand in the air. The other one gripped her pillowcase (which was decorated with peeling angel and halo stickers and flaking golden and glittery swirls) tightly and dragged it across the pavement, unaware that she could be wearing a hole into it. Her focus was only on getting the boy's attention. "Hey!" she called out again._

_ It occurred to the boy that she was calling for him and his warm chestnut eyes locked with her emerald green ones. The warm caramel pools were half-hidden behind his brunette bangs that hung low in his face, casting an atmospheric shadow over his forehead and eyes. But Maka didn't stop. Not even when the boy stumbled back a step, allowing himself to be consumed more by the shadows that the alley provided. She only faltered when she tripped over some kid's foot and fell to her knees and the boy took his chance to run away. She jumped right back up and sprinted after him, screaming out, "Wait!"_

_ Maka rushed into the alley and immediately spotted a small figure at the end of the alley. This was a shortcut to Shibusen. Her dad took this route sometimes with her when he was late. But they'd have to pass through the forest at the back of the academy first. There was a narrow path winding through it marking the explored and safe areas of the forest. At night it was pretty hard to see with the forest canopy blocking most of the moon's light. The little boy could wander into anywhere in the forest and get lost. Much unlike Maka who knew the maze of trees and other growth like the back of her hand._

_ "Wait up! You could get lost!" Maka warned. Unfortunately, the boy had already rounded the corner of the alley and thrown himself into the depth of green plant-life and her warning fell upon absent ears. Maka sighed and chased after him again, her pillowcase bouncing along behind her; her white dress fluttering and whipping around her stout legs. Her synthetic wings hit the back of her arms with each bound she made, pestering her as if they wanted her attention desperately._

_ The earthy smell of dirt and wilting flowers reached Maka's nose as she ran into the forest, the boy only a few meters in front of her. He climbed over a fallen tree covered in moss and mushrooms and continued running as if he had only jumped over a stick. Maka was taught by her parents (and many other advising teachers and faculty to never underestimate anyone. But in her defense, he was just a kid. No one expected much from kids. Most kids didn't have much endurance._

_ But she did. And so did Mystery Boy._

_ They also taught her to be one step ahead. If they did one thing, level up them by doing something more extraordinary. Maka saw her chance when the boy began to slow down a bit and took the opportunity by the hair without hesitation. She pushed herself harder and attempted to leap up on top of the fallen tree and jump off on the other side. What she didn't take into consideration, however, was that her legs were short and not meant for jumping. Neither was her ankle-length dress._

_ "Oof!"_

_ Maka fell on her back, her wings (the fake ones) only slightly softening her fall. Her pillowcase was dropped in her tumbled. No candy fell out, but that was the least of Maka's worries. Not only was the boy getting away so far that she wouldn't be able to catch up, but her hair and dress were snared on something beneath her. She growled in frustration and began to untangle her hair, working quickly to make up for lost time._

_ "You're very clumsy. Anyone ever tell you that?"_

_ Maka looked down to see the boy kneeling by her side, carefully working the dress out of its tangle. He wouldn't look at her, but she could faintly make out his soft brown eyes intent and focused on her dress. His hair flopped down into his line of vision and he just pushed it off to the side with his hand then starting up on untangling her again._

_ Maka frowned. "I am not clumsy!"_

_ The boy gave her a side-glance before shrugging and unsnagging her dress from the stick. "Okay. Reckless then."_

_ "I wanted to catch up to you!"_

_ "Why?"_

_ Maka froze and stared up at him from her place on the ground. Her throat constricted, stopping any word flow (and minor air flow) and making her appear to be speechless. She knew why she was chasing him, of course. It'd just be plain dumb if she didn't. But she hadn't expected to be so put on the spot by the guy in question. It made her feel self-conscious and foolish._

_ "Did you have a reason?"_

_ Her throat opened up again. "Of course I did."_

_ "Then what is it?"_

_ The hem of her dress became very interesting at that moment. Maka rubbed it between her finger and thumb, feeling the soft and smooth fabric and avoiding the question. Maka wasn't going to be very happy when she found out about her soiled dress. She spent a lot of time and money on it, looking through every store in the outlets for the most angelic dress by Maka's standards. The little girl refused to wear those cheaply thin, factory-made costumes in department stores. But now Maka was going to be so mad. . ._

_ "My mom would be too if I was chasing random kids around."_

_ Startled, Maka looked up at the boy. Had she let that last part slip?_

_ "That's not what I meant. I tore my dress." The boy looked down at the snag in her dress and lifted it closer to his face to examine it._

_ "Hey! Didn't your mama ever tell you it's not nice to lift girls' dresses?" shouted Maka yanking her dress skirt back down._

_ He smirked and chuckled. "Yeah."_

_ "Stupid!"_

_ "Owowow! What'd you kick me? That _hurt_!"_

_ Maka crossed her arms and took a step back from the boy hopping in place while clutching his injured shin. "That was rude. Say sorry."_

_ "Is a girl _really_ telling me what to do?" he asked incredulously. _

_ "I'll kick you again. Same spot too."_

_ "Ugh!" he groaned. "Girls are so crazy!"_

_ "Say it!"_

_ "Fine! I'm sorry! Happy now?"_

_ Maka dropped her arms to her sides and took a step towards him. "No." She reached out for his hand only for him to yank his back as if she could kill him by skin contact. Kicking him in the shin probably aided her in that. "I'm not happy."_

_ The boy looked at her cautiously, the hand he moved from hers held close to his chest. "And why not?"_

_ "Because you're not." Maka saw she had caught him off guard by the way he froze completely with his eyes resembling a deer-in-the-headlights look. "When you were watching everyone have fun, you weren't happy either. So I'm not." She reached up for his hand (which required her to stand on her tip toes since his chest was a little over her head) and took it in both of her smaller ones.'_

_ There was silence for a long time between the two; the boy was too stunned to speak and Maka didn't want to say something wrong and make him run off again._

_ "You shouldn't force yourself to be sad for others," he finally muttered, shattering the silence between them rather crudely. _

_ Maka looked up at his solemn face and frowned. "But I'm not. I saw you and I already felt sad. Why weren't you with your friends trick-or-treating? Are you mad at them?"_

_ "No I-"_

_ "Are they mad at you?"_

_ "No! It's just-"_

_ "Do you have any friends?"  
"Would you be quiet and just _listen_?"_

_ The outburst made Maka jump and she backed away from him a little, pulling her hand from his. He glared at her with now melting chocolate eyes hidden underneath his dark bangs, almost stark black in the lack of light. She whimpered and nodded for him to continue, silently promising to not interrupt._

_ The boy stood tensed for a few seconds, still heatedly glaring at her and sending chills down her spine. Maka was about to open her mouth to apologize and verbally swear her silence when his shoulders drooped with lack of tension and he sighed. Now more relaxed, he looked at her more softly (but Maka stood stock-still as she was and refused to take her eyes off of him)._

_ "My mom doesn't want me to trick-or-treat."_

_ "Why not?" _

_ "It's a secret."_

_ "I won't tell anyone! Please?"_

_ Mystery Boy smiled and reached forward to pat her head. "Nah. I can't tell you. I can't tell anyone."_

_ Maka clasped her hands together in a pleading gesture. "Please?" Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I can tell you one of mine so we'll be even."_

_ He shook his head. "Sorry, Kid. But I can't-"_

_ "Maka."_

_ The boy blinked thrown off of his train of thought. "What?"_

_ "My name's Maka," she repeated. "I hate it when people call me 'kid'," she added with an irritated huff._

_ "But you are a kid."_

_ "I still don't like it."_

_ "Whatever."He leaned against a tree with his arms crossed and looked at the branches above. Maka followed his gaze but only saw pure darkness with the exception of miniscule rays of moonlight creeping through gaps in the leaves. Despite it being fall, these trees didn't lose their leaves until mid-winter. Even now, they were still a healthy green with only a few leaves turning orange or red. Papa told her they were special trees that Shibusen staff tended to themselves. Maka thought it had something to do with the soil._

_ "So what's that secret of yours?"_

_ Maka looked down to see the boy staring straight at her, his eyes invisible beneath his bangs and the darkness the forest canopy provided. His gaze was trained on her, intent and unwavering. He was genuinely curious._

_ "Tell me yours first."_

_ The boy sighed and pushed off of the tree. "No can do." He strode over to her with surprisingly long legs for a kid only a year or two older than herself. In seconds time he was standing over her, looking down upon her shrunken form compared to his giant one, with dark and shadowed eyes. Eyes that were keeping a secret from her._

_ Two could play at that game._

_ "Then I guess you won't hear mine," she countered stubbornly, crossing her arms._

_ He shrugged. "Okay. I really don't care that much."_

_ "Then why'd you ask?"_

_ He paused. "To humor you."_

_ "I'm not amused."_

_ "Smart little brat, are you?"_

_ "Smarter than you for sure."_

_ Another chuckle – the millionth of the night it must've been – passed his lips. "You're a cute one."_

_ Maka stuck out her lower lip in a pout. "Am not."_

_ Twin brunette eyebrows elevated up the boy's forehead in astonishment. "Most little girls like being called cute."_

_ "Well not this one."_

_ "You're strange." Maka opened her mouth to retort with something equally rude when a smile graced his face – a real one and the first one she'd seen all night – and she froze mid-thought. Her velvet green eyes locked on his curled lips, her own following suit. The smile reached her eyes and they twinkled in the darkness of the night, adding a shine to the forest. _

_ The boy noticed. "What are you smiling about?"_

_ "Because you are."_

_ "Are you like a mirror of people's emotions?"_

_ Maka shook her head. "I just like it when people are happy. But I don't like it when they're sad."_

_ A silence draped over them like a thin sheet – not too heavy, but just enough to be comfortable. Mystery Boy turned his gaze elsewhere, somewhere deep in the woods, but Maka continued to look at the content smile on his face. Her pride swelled at the thought that _she_ had been to the one to cause it. He was cheered up and more chipper because of her._

_ "So if you won't tell me what you're secret is, how about a name?"_

_ Maka blinked at the interruption of their mutual silence. "I'm Maka," she replied. "And what's yours?"_

_ "Grayson."_

_ Maka smiled brighter, her cheeks beginning to grow sore from all of the sudden grinning. "Grayson," she repeated, trying out the sound on her tongue, letting it roll past her lips. "I like it."_

_ Grayson turned to face her again. "Maka's not a bad name either."_

_ The little blonde scrunched up her nose. "Everyone else thinks it's too plain though."_

_ He shrugged. "Don't listen to them. It's unique. I've never heard that one before."_

_ "I've never heard Grayson either."_

_ He didn't answer and they fell into another dark-filled silence, this one just as comfortable if not more. He didn't mind her now, her presence was uplifting. She may have seemed a little clueless and naïve before, but she was smarter than she seemed. And tougher too. She was a secure enough girl, even if she was younger. She seemed all right._

_ He'd better not regret this._

_ "My mom doesn't like me to go trick-or-treating because she's really religious and stuff." He paused and glanced at her from the corner of his eye to see him staring at him intently. She was listening with undivided attention and wasn't about to miss a single word. That was good; he didn't want to repeat himself later. This was hard enough as it was._

_ "Halloween is believed to be the devil's day, so with her being anti-Satanist and everything, she doesn't want me to trick-or-treat since that'd be celebrating him or whatever. She didn't used to be so strict and I'd go trick-or-treating at my old town, but then things changed." He stopped and shoved his hands in his pocket, waiting for the girl to ask him what happened. The only sound that reached his ears was the rustling of leaves from the wind. He looked back over at the girl to see her eyes shining brightly and her bottom lip quivering. His mind questioned her response for half a second before registering what was about to transpire._

_ "Oh no no no! Don't cry! God, if I knew you were going to cry I wouldn't have told you!" He held out his hands, palms outspread in a shushing manner when the first sob tore from her throat. A single tear ran down her cheek and another sob ripped out when he placed his hands on her shoulders. More tears slipped down as he pulled her closer to him, gathering her in a comforting hug. _

_ "That's so horrible!" she cried. She hiccupped and pulled away from his chest using her balled up fist to wipe away tears from her cheeks. "I couldn't imagine my mama telling me not to celebrate Halloween. It's practically like Christmas here in Death City!"_

_ "Apparently my mom didn't get the memo," he said, lightheartedly trying to uplift the conversation to cease her crying. When it was obvious he had failed he shushed her and stroked her ash blonde locks. "Do you want to know why she won't let me do it anymore? Do you finally want to know the secret? Will it make you stop crying if I tell you?"_

_ Maka looked up, eyes red from crying and wide from shock. Grayson looked back down at her in a half-pleading, half-exasperated manner, hoping she'd comply so that he wouldn't have to deal with her tears. He wasn't used to it. He wasn't used to tears at all. He'd never cried himself, not since he was four – four years ago. She nodded and he sighed in relief._

_ "Alright. But you can't tell anyone, you hear me? _Anyone_. Swear it."_

_ "I-" _Hic! _"I swear!"_

_ Grayson took a deep breath and held her out at arms' length, not wanting to be so close when he finally revealed something he'd been sworn to secrecy. He was a rebel of course, but that look on his mother's face was enough to put his trouble-making side to rest. But this little girl – this annoyingly wonderful little girl – was bringing him back out to play. _

_ "I'm. . .I'm an angel. Wings and everything."_

_ Maka gasped in amazement and looked over his shoulder as if to see the wing right then and there. It was no surprise that a little girl like her would be awed but such a "holy" being right here on earth, in front of their very eyes. Not taking her eyes from the spot over his shoulder at the invisible wing, she whispered quietly, so much that Grayson had to strain his ears to hear her, "Really? You're a real angel?"_

_ He nodded reluctantly, deciding that it was too late to take it back. "But you can't tell anyone, you hear-"_

_ "That's great! I'm an angel too!" She beamed at him, an excited twinkle in her eyes. She shrugged his hands off of her shoulders slid off her faux angel wings. She let them drop to the ground as she twisted around, showing her now bare back to him._

_ "What? What are you-" He froze in the middle of his sentence. Right there, in between her shoulder blades, were two miniscule wings, the feathers messily ruffled. They were about the size and length of a plastic baby spoon each but were so pure and white that it was blinding, even in the black darkness of the midst of the trees surrounding them. They were brand new, a week old at the most._

_ "I just got them a few days ago," she said, confirming his suspicions. "It still hurts a little back there, but Mr. Serapin said they would for about a week or two."_

_ Grayson laughed out loud and laughed even harder when Maka turned around to give him a confused look. "What's so funny?" she asked. She waited until his laughter died down to occasional chuckles before asking again. He only smiled brightly at her and laughed again. When finally he stopped, Maka had her arms crossed and foot tapping against the forest floor. "What's so funny?" she demanded._

_ "Seraphim. His name is Seraphim, not Serapin."_

_ A steady magenta blush colored her cheeks and she huffed gruffly, spinning on her heel to face away from him. "Shut up!" she yelled. Grayson noticed her wings flapping in annoyance, agreeing with their owner and sharing her embarrassment. _

_ "Your wings are cute," he said absently and on sudden impulse. Twin sparkling emerald eyes turned to him in appreciation and awe, silently thanking him for his unintended compliment. He thought about taking it back and pretend he was kidding or something, save some face and get back some of his macho-ness (it was little but he was manly too) back, but that look in her eyes stopped him. They were filled to the brim with emotion – emotion directed at him – and he couldn't bring himself to do it. So instead, he smiled at her, backing up his compliment and making her giggle._

_ "Thanks! I betcha yours would look cool too," she hinted, her gaze briefly darting to the spot over his shoulder. She wanted to see his now. Taking time to think this over, Grayson stood unmoving. Would it really be okay to show her his wings? He had already told her he had them, would it really hurt to let her see for herself?_

_ "Maka! Maka where are you?"_

_ Mentioned girl gasped and swiveled around, looking deep into the woods behind her. "That's my Papa! He's looking for me!" She turned back around and frowned. "I guess I better go."_

_ Crestfallen, Grayson looked down at the ground and kicked at a small stone. "Yeah, you probably should."_

_ But she didn't leave and he didn't encourage her to. He truthfully didn't want her to, despite being so bothered by her earlier. She was pretty nice and it was great knowing that there was someone like him in this town. Especially since they had just moved here and he still hadn't made any friends. Perhaps this girl would be willing enough to hang out and play with him._

_ "Maybe we could play together sometime," she spoke up, voicing his exact thoughts. "And then you could show me your wings. We could even learn how to fly together!" she exclaimed._

_ Grayson smiled and nodded. "Yeah. Sounds good."_

_ "Maka? Darling answer Papa!"_

_ She groaned and hopped impatiently. "I guess I should leave before he starts crying." Grayson wanted to laugh at the thought of a grown man crying, but she looked so serious and he didn't want to offend her. So he settled for nodding silently and gesturing for her to leave._

_ Maka bit her bottom lip, ignoring her father's cries and stalled some more, anything to avoid parting with Grayson. "So how are you getting home?"_

_ "I live just outside of this forest."_

_ "Oh."_

_ "Yeah."_

_ A third panicked cry echoed through the woods, bouncing off the trunks of trees, calling out to Maka to answer and to "Come to Papa." Maka sighed, realizing she couldn't avoid her father forever and decided that it was time to leave and end her short time with Grayson. She looked at him longingly and was pleased to see her expression mirrored on his face. Neither of them wanted her to leave. _

_ Maka's face brightened along with the light bulb that turned on above her head and she dove into her pillowcase which held all of the goodies and sweets that she had collected that night. Grayson watched her in confusion and curiosity, wondering what exactly was going through the young girl's mind at the moment. After rummaging and ransacking her pile of candy in the pillowcase, she finally revealed herself once more, her hair mussed up and messy. She was grinning brightly and clutching something small in her hand, hiding it from his view. She jutted out her arm to him, holding her hand open, palm up, to reveal a small piece of wrapped candy, the loose ends twisted to hold it in place._

_ "A Tootsie Roll?" he questioned._

_ She nodded. "Yeah. They're my favorite candy," she explained. "And I thought that just because you're mama won't let you trick-or-treat that doesn't mean that you can't have candy. So I'm letting you have one of my favorites."_

_ When all he did was continue to stare at it, Maka gestured for him to take it, even whispering, "Go on. It's yours." He nodded and plucked it out of her hand, watching her grin grow wider._

_ "I can't wait to see you again, Grayson! I'm sure we'll become good friends!" she shouted as she ran off in the other direction to catch up with her searching father._

_ Grayson watched her disappear into the dark woods, not taking his eyes off of the spot she disappeared to until an owl nearby hooted, startling out of his fixed trance. The Tootsie Roll in his hand became heavier, making itself known. Grayson decided to comply with her request and unwrapped it, popping it into his mouth. Crumpling the now useless wrapper in his hand, he chewed the taffy-like candy and hummed in contentment._

_ It tasted like chocolate._

* * *

In present day, Maka was leaning on her elbow, staring at Grayson, who was sitting next to her. Of course, fate would have it, this would be the only empty seat in the entire lecture room that could hold over forty students. Of course it was right. Next to. _Her_. Luck was not on her side today at all.

The rest of the student body (well, the girls anyway), however, seemed ready to give up anything to just be in reaching distance of such a mysterious stud. Hell, they probably would've sold their souls just for him to just _glance_ at the them for even a brief second.

It sickened her.

They all stared in awe and wonder at him, drooling over his dark hotness, completely neglecting their assignment to gawk at the new kid. Maka was staring at him too, but hers was more in the loathing category. Just how were these two guys, the nice and playful one from her memory and the one next to her with the cocky and all-knowing grin, be the same person? Wasn't there some kind of universal rule against these kinds of things?

Unfortunately, someone didn't catch on that her heated stare towards the new classmate was in anger, not lust.

Liz leaned over to Maka, her intoxicating perfume invading her oxygen, peaches and vanilla wafting into her personal breathing bubble. She smiled a sly grin and tapped her manicured French tip nails against the table. Maka winced at the sound. Those nails were just begging to chip and tear. Meisters weren't in favor of long nails since they were always out on the battlefield in the midst of all the action. Even seeing them on other people and she could already feel the pain and see the bleeding of a nail being completely torn off.

"So you're gawking at the new guy too?" she whispered, pulling Maka off of her torturous imaginings.

Maka almost gagged.

"I mean, who wouldn't? The guy's an angel from heaven!" she exclaimed in a hushed tone.

Liz didn't know how close she was to the truth. But Maka wasn't going to be the one to tell her.

"You don't know the half of it," Maka muttered, turning back to the front of the classroom to distract herself. Stein wasn't teaching at the moment, but there was still some notes written on the chalkboard from earlier that he hadn't yet erased. Even though they were already copied in her notebook – neatly and legible – she opted for reading them over again, anything to escape Liz gushing about her one of her least favorite people on the earth right now – after Medusa but before Asura.

"Do you think I'd have a shot?"

Maka tore her gaze hesitantly from the board, looking back at Liz who was pulling at a strand of hair. She was gazing intently at Grayson, focused on his half-hidden face. He was leaned back in his chair still, his arms crossed behind his head, providing a fleshy pillow in place of the hard wood of the desk behind him. From the grin on his face, Maka knew that he was just basking in all of the attention from the female half of the class and she scoffed in distaste. His feet were disrespectfully kicked up on top of his desk (but not so different than her own parent did at times), donning black and gray Vans with the laces tucked in.

Maka twisted back around to see the Demon Gun twirling her strand of hair around her index finger, chewing the inside of her cheek in deep thought. She was leaning on her desk, in perfect view of Grayson's relaxed body a seat away. Just like every other girl in the classroom, Liz considered him major eye candy. Maka considered him major unmentionables.

"Do you really want to know, Liz?" she asked.

Liz straightened up off of her desk and frowned at the blonde meister. Her eyes narrowed very slightly in irritation as she said, "I'm not sure anymore with that attitude." Her textbook slammed shut and she tapped her (infuriating) long nails against the hardcover. "I don't think I should have asked _you_ in the first place."

Maka caught the emphasis. "What do you mean by that?"

Liz rolled her eyes. "Like you don't know."

"Actually, I don't. Do tell."

Liz sighed and propped her head up with her palm. "No offense, Maka, but relationships are your strength." She shrugged and looked back at Grayson. She sighed deeply like a hopeless romantic, irking Maka further. Her eyebrow twitched. The nerve of this girl. . .

"Guys just are your forte," continued Liz. "Especially not hot ones like him." Maka's eyebrows rose at the accusation but she remained silent. Liz looked over at her sternly with her light blue eyes and shrugged. "Sorry, but it's the truth."

Maka opened her mouth to set the brunette weapon straight when the door to the classroom creaked open. Her words caught in her throat as Sid sauntered in, heading over to Stein's desk in front of the board and whispered something to him. Stein nodded in agreement to whatever was said and cranked the screw in his head, turning it twice. Just was Maka was about to infer what could've been going on between the two, they both turned and looked directly at her.

"Maka Albarn, you're needed in the Death Room by request of Shinigami-sama. You are excused from the rest of class," Stein announced, attracting the attention of a few stray students who weren't reading the required chapters coinciding with the lesson. They in turn looked at her, waiting for her to submit and stand to leave. Maka did as they expected and gathered her things in her messenger bag, standing from her desk. She stole a glance at Grayson and inwardly smiled, intensely satisfied at his confused and irritated expression. He was watching her closely as if trying to figure out what this meeting was about by just looking at her hard. Maka almost laughed at the idea.

As she walked by Liz, she paused and then leaned down, stopping at Liz's ear. Her anger fueled her thoughts which were formed into heat-filled words that gathered into venom-coated sentences. She was going to get back at her for those hateful and hurtful words from earlier. Whispering quietly so that Grayson (who was _still_ watching her) wouldn't hear, she poured out all of her frustration from the day into Liz's open and attentive ear. "You can say all you want about my relationship experience. But know this: The only reason I don't think you have a shot with him has nothing to do with you. It's him I'm worried about. I know him, Liz. And trust me when I say not to get involved with him." Maka stood up straight and continued walking down the aisle, leaving Liz alone to absorb the information. She didn't spare a glance back at either Grayson nor Liz nor anyone else for that matter.

She had a meeting to attend.

* * *

**Author's Comments:**

**Shoot me now. Really, just shoot me. x.x It'll make you guys feel better.**

**I can't believe I've neglected this for over a month. In fact, I had most of the flashback written and then, blank. I delved deep into writer's block overnight. =_= Dreader writer's block. I hate you more than cancer.**

**Okay. So sorry if I made Liz seem a bit like a bitch. But trust me, she's not going to be a bitch in this story. But come on, everyone's been there. Your friends can get a bit bitchy sometimes too. Soul Eater is no different.**

**I hated that dumb flashback scene. I went over it 30 million times in my head, but nothing came out right. And then I had to re-write it a couple of times because some things either didn't work or sound right. I hope you guys like it because I despise it. Although, I am pleased with the Tootsie Roll scene. That was actually inspired by my friend Jordan, who one day offered me a Tootsie Roll. Instead of accepting the candy graciously (like I should've) I squealed and told her that she helped me end the flashback scene. And now I want that Tootsie Roll. ;_;  
**

**This is the longest chapter I've written for this series. And I was actually going to keep going, but then I was like, "Nah. They'll be satisfied with this much. Plus, I'm too lazy to write the next part. I'll write it later." So there. You guys still love me, right?**

**Okay. I have some new story ideas. But I'm only going to start **_**one**_** more. So you're going to help me narrow it down.**

**I can either begin that experiment story that I uploaded a sneak peek of. If you haven't read it, it's on my profile page under the title "Sneak Peek"**

**Or I could do this whole pirate themed story I wanna start. Maka's a pirate (captain in fact) who captures Soul's (also a pirate) ship and takes him as a prisoner. He learns an interesting secret about her from a drunk Black Star and blackmails her with it. There's more to it, but I don't want to be too revealing.**

**Or lastly I have an idea where Tsubaki's most valuable treasure is stolen from her by some gang and Maka (being the rash dumbass she is) tracks them all the way down to Southern California to get it back. Now they're after her and she gets some random guy (Soul) to help her run from them and take her back to Nevada. So now they are on one huge adventurous road trip to return her best friend's. . .hair clip back? XD Read to find out.**

**Or, you can tell me to blow off these ideas and finish everything else I've started. Which I promise I'll do, but my mind would like to start something else.**

**By the way, last chapter, I mentioned that this would have a sequel following it. Well I changed my mind! This will now be a trilogy! Yep, I added another sequel to the sequel! Go on, praise me (Jk)**

**But following this series, it will continue about a year later from the ending of this and will be about demons. The third one will be about demons too, but will have a different plot and objective.**

**So these will be the titles (in order):**

**Grigori's Promise**

**Grigori's Sin**

**Grigori's Blood**

**So look out for them!**

**Okay, last but not least, questions and facts about GP. Here's a question asked by The SilverBloodAlchemist:**

Does Lord Death know about Maka being an angel? What about Kidd?

**You ask the best questions, you know that? Yes, Lord Death **_**does**_** know about Maka being an angel. That's because Spirit told him at some point (way before the start of the SE series). But alas, Kidd does not know about Maka's special attribute. And he will not know for a long, long time.**

**And since I know no one's going to ask this question, here's a GP Fun Fact! *annoyingly peppy game show music***

**Everyone knows Grayson, right? (If not, you're obviously not paying attention.) You all love him because of his personality and hotness. ^^ But you wanna know something interesting. Originally his name was **_**not**_** Grayson. In my first draft, I named him Nathaniel. *shudders* I was drugged I swear. Aren't you glad I changed it? I sure as hell am. ._.**

**Don't hesitate to ask questions about this series! I love answering them! I'll also try to include one GP Fun Fact each chapter from now on.**

**By the way, this has nothing to do with the story, but if you guys are interested, do you want to read my first fanfic (hell, my first literature piece) ever? WARNING! It sucks balls. And it's not about Soul Eater. But I wrote this in 6th grade. 2 years ago. I've improve A LOT. Link to the story: http: / raeandbb2000 . deviantart . com / gallery / 24151476# / d1tk0be It SUCKS.  
**

**Okay. I'm boring you I can tell. **

**Until next time~!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Beams of light were caught on the glinting silver of the keys twirling around his finger, reflecting it back to the guffawing sun. The sweet jangling of the ring of keys battering against each other with each spin harmonized with Soul's low whistling and Black Star's heavy soles hitting the pavement in a steady beat. The occasional car that zipped by them added for a neat sound effect in the background, completing the odd and unintentional soundtrack of the two boys walking down the sidewalk. It was nice, calming even, before Black Star decided to open his big mouth. Not that it was to be unexpected. In fact, Soul was surprised he managed to keep it shut for the previous two miles they walked.

"So, what are we going to your apartment for again? I thought we were going to the arcade or somethin'."

"We're getting my bike. Maka's already a little off today; I don't need to walk home with her ready to tear off my head. I plan on keeping it for the rest of my life. I figured I'd get it and pick her up after school gets out."

Black Star adjusted the capped beanie so that the bill was at the back of his head and then shoved his hands into the deep pockets of his white pants. "You know, female black widow spiders always eat the heads off of the males' after they're done mating."

A choked sound ripped up Soul's throat as his brain signals failed to reach his feet, causing him to freeze in place and stare at Black Star in unmitigated horror. The ugliest part was that he couldn't decide on what frightened him most: the fact that Black Star, of all people, knew something like that, or the fact that he may have been hinting at something subliminally with something that would throw him completely off track. The ninja, noticing Soul's discomfort, turned back, a neutral expression staring back at him as if to shrug it off and say "Well it's true."

"And why-"

"Just felt you needed to be warned. Tread carefully, Soul."

There was definitely something that he wasn't getting. Black Star was hiding something and it was a fatal blow to his ego that he couldn't figure it out. He was used to feeling dumb and left out with Maka, but…Black Star? His best friend not to mention the dimmest in the Spartoi team (and this group included two toddlers and Patty who thinks she's one). Perhaps grabbing Black Star by the back of the shirt and slamming his head into concrete ought to kill a few brain cells and bring him back below Soul's level, where the arrogant son-of-a-bitch belonged.

A shout for him to snap out of it and hurry up broke him from his chain of thoughts and brought him back to the spot where he was still frozen from Black Star's odd outburst. Roughly shaking the thoughts away, deciding he'd deal with them later, he picked up his pace and caught up to his fellow classmate, back on the path to his apartment.

The rest of the walk was silent with Soul contemplating Black Star's hidden message and the meaning behind it while the latter was probably thinking about more carnivorous insects. He could only hope against it. It didn't suit the self-centered loud mouth.

The sight of his nearing apartment was an instant relief to the awkward air that had settled around the two. Soul heaved out a heavy sigh and picked up his pace, speed walking as if leaving their previous conversation behind. Not one to be outdone in speed, Black Star skipped into a jog, easily passing Soul in seconds. The albino rolled his eyes; he had the keys. The ninja would be a sitting duck at the apartment door until he arrived to let them in. Yet it was the way that Black Star trotted in front of him that taunted him into the challenge. Almost like he thought he was better than Soul. Going all out into a full sprint, he zipped past Black Star, hardly registering the startled "hey" that was shouted after him as he climbed the flights of stairs, taking three steps at a time. He heard heavy soled boots pounding after him, causing a ruckus on the steel steps, rattling the entire staircase. Soul vaguely thought of the other tenants that would be disturbed and would come to check out the racket being caused, but he pushed the thought back as his main goal was to defeat Black Star and prove that he wasn't as godly as he claimed.

"YAHOO!"

Soul looked out of the corner of his eye and gasped before grunting in rage. Black Star had taken to running along the hand railing, bent forward with his arms clenched to his sides as he raced up the steps, passing Soul easily.

"That is _so_ cheating!" huffed out Soul. His lungs failed him in the enraged shout he wished to yell; instead he could only voice an out-of-breath pant. Up ahead, Black Star had already reached the top landing, the floor on which he and Maka lived (and Blair too). He flipped off of the railing and landed in a crouch at the end of the hallway, only pausing to turn back and stick his tongue out at Soul, before sprinting down to their apartment door.

"Fuck!" Soul cursed aloud as he pushed harder to get up the steps, faintly wishing that he could climb the hand railing as well (as it proved to be faster). No, he wished that he had more running practice. This was killing his legs! Weapons didn't have to run really, all of that hard work was left up to the meister. The sad part of it was, Soul was already tired after running half a block and four flights of stairs and it seemed as if Black Star had hardly broken a sweat. He'd have to give Maka more credit than normal. Being a meister had to suck.

Panting and ready to collapse, Soul reached the top floor to spot a smug Black Star sitting at his apartment door, whistling a happy tune and breathing normally. He seemed completely fine, as if he had someone else carry him the whole way. "I'm glad you're comfortable," Soul breathed out, sucking more air back in. He wasn't ready for talking yet.

"Dude, you look like you just ran a marathon. You need to work out more."

"Put a sock in it, Black Star. You cheated anyway."

"There were no rules saying I couldn't use the hand railing. Just because you're a wimpy snail doesn't mean that you should restrain me of my full god-like potential. I did what I had to."

"I repeat: shut up."

"Sore loser."

"Arrogant bastard." The lock clicked and Soul pushed weakly on the door, sighing as the cool air from the A/C hit his sweat-soaked face. The heavenly air continued to filter out into the hallway, cooling down Soul's risen body temperature and luring him inside the apartment to be surrounded in it. Black Star invited himself in and plopped his happy self on the couch, propping his feet on the coffee table. Soul's response was immediate. "Feet off the coffee table."

The only answer he received was an irritated grunt, but it worked, as Black Star slid his feet off the table and sat up. He propped his head up with his hands, elbows balanced on his thighs as he stared dully at the wall. "So, I thought we were getting your bike. What are we up here for?"

"I left my keys up here this morning. It's why we had to run to school this morning."

The ninja perked up. "So that's why you out of breath this morning?"

Soul nodded and went into his room, heading over to his dresser to get his keys off the top. He came back out and saw a smiling Black Star standing in front of the couch, green-blue eyes following him into the kitchen. "Oh. Never mind then."

Soul quirked an eyebrow. "Never mind what? Black Star?"  
"It's nothing. So we leaving now?" he asked, changing the subject and walking over to the door.

"Yeah I guess." Soul took a final look around the apartment, making sure he didn't forget anything. Once he finished running down his mental checklist, he nodded and dropped Maka's keys (he had managed to snag them out of her bag before he and Black Star decided to ditch) onto the kitchen counter that way he wouldn't lose them on his way out. "Alright! Let's get outta here."

Black Star jumped past the door way then stood up straight and stretched his arms behind his back. "I'll race ya back down!"

"I am not running anymore." The click of the lock securing the door reached Soul's ears and he pulled out the key and dropped them into his pocket.

"Awwww! You're just a sore loser man!"

"Do not make me go through this again."

* * *

The mirror rippled in the Death Room, contorting Maka's image drastically until it disappeared all together, replacing it with a bright light and then Shinigami-sama's spiked-cloaked form. She clutched her bag strap in her right hand out of anxiety, still feeling nervous in the Death God's presence despite speaking with him a multitude of times. It was just something about him being so high in status that made her heart beat erratically. It was a natural reaction, she supposed.

"Meister Maka reporting in."

"Ah, Maka! Yes! Good, good. I need to speak with you, my dear."

Maka simply nodded and waited for him to continue with the reason of their meeting. She smiled politely, encouraging him to keep going.

"You see, I need to discuss with you about something that has recently come up. You remember Grayson, if I'm correct?"

The smile left her face immediately at the sound of the fellow angel's name and she suddenly wanted to run out of the Death Room and leave this conversation behind. "You would be."

He nodded (which really just looked like he was bowing consistently) and said, "So I'm sure that you know that he has enrolled in Shibusen, right?"

Oh did she ever.

"Yes, sir. He's actually in my class."

He nodded/bowed again. "Yes, yes, that's right. All with a purpose."

Maka perked up at the last mumbled part of Shinigami's sentence and tilted her head. "Sir? What purpose?"

"Hmmm?" Shinigami straightened up and bounced backwards from the mirror, away from Maka's searching eyes, hawking for an answer behind that playful mask of his. He pulled out a large hand from behind his back and waved it casually. "Ah! No need to worry your little head, Maka-chan! It's all taken care for! No worries~ No trouble~"

"But Sir-"

He raised a hand, cutting off Maka's attempt at speech successfully. As much as this current topic concerned her and piqued her curiosity, she was never the student to disobey the head master. She pushed the rest of her sentence down her throat, swallowing it so it was not to bubble up again. Instead, it rested uncomfortably in her chest, prodding her to let it out. But she was a good student and good students obeyed.

"Which reminds me: Grayson will be staying with you and Soul in your apartment for the time being. Yup! It's all been arranged!" He bounced happily and moved his hand back to its place behind him.

Maka was afraid she'd lose her eyeballs they bugged out so far and she choked on air. (How lady-like.) After she had recollected herself from her little fit, she rasped out, "Bu-but Sir! You can't just….What would Soul….This really isn't the best….I don't think that-"

"It's all been arranged."

Maka halted at the commanding voice he used and stared in disbelief that he thought he could drop Grayson, that no good lying bastard, into her safe abode without her consent on such short notice. Death God or not, that was not going to happen!

"Shinigami-sama, I'm sorry but I really don't think that this is the best decision! Our apartment is already so small with Soul and I! We hardly had room for Blair! The only reason she's with us is because she's a cat and she's not even always home! Lord Death, could you please reconsider-"

"It's all been arranged."

Maka groaned and deflated, knowing that no amount of pleading and negotiating was going to get him to change his mind. As much as she didn't like it at the moment, she knew that Grayson was staying with them for a reason because Lord Death wouldn't have requested it otherwise. He had his intentions (and while they were hidden from her at the moment, they still must've been good) at placing Grayson in their care for the moment being. Lord Death did everything with reason, never out of random urge.

"Yes, sir," she sighed. Both of her hands had dropped to her side and hung there limply for currently there was no further use for them. Shinigami was getting his way no matter what her thoughts were on the matter.

"Good~ I'm glad we both agree on the subject. That is all; you are dismissed."

Maka nodded and bowed before turning on her heel and walking out of the Death Room.

So….

This was how it was going to be, huh?

* * *

The sun was finally beginning to set in the sky and cast an orange glow in the living room. Soul slouched further into the couch and turned the television off, closing his now strained eyes in search for relief. His ears perked up, listening for the faint footsteps in the apartment hallway that would belong to his meister or the sound of the door being unlocked, another sign of Maka finally coming home.

He had gone to pick her up after school like he had told Black Star, but when he arrived, Kid had just told him that Maka had a meeting with Lord Death and that she may not be done for awhile. He was prepared to stay and wait for her, but then Tsubaki had inquired as to where Black Star was and he remembered that after their time at the arcade, he had dropped him off at home. Being the gentleman he was, he knew he couldn't let Tsubaki walk home by herself (not to mention, Black Star would have his head on a stick). So he had offered her a ride home and by the time she was safely dropped off, he figured that Maka's meeting was already over and decided to just head home and wait.

It was only supposed to be a short wait, one that would last half an hour at the most. But it had almost been three hours since he had arrived home and still no Maka. Just what the hell was taking her so long?

As time passed, he had resorted to TV to numb his mind and kill his overactive imagination, but the moving picture box probably just made it worse.

What if Shinigami had registered her to a new weapon to train since he was a Death Scythe now? And now she was living with some other guy who definitely wouldn't understand her for the beautiful girl she was and only see her as a stepping stone to their path on becoming cool and popular like him.

Or what if her dad came and finally snapped, saying he was fed up with Maka living with a "juvenile delinquent" like him? He probably snatched her away and locked her away in his house to protect his "precious baby girl" away from the harm of the outside world.

Maybe her mom had called in and said that she wanted to take Maka with her after all of these years. Taking her away from a country far away from Death City, her friends, and worst of all, _him._

Oh no. What if she was approached by some guy (worst case, a scythe just like him) asking her for her partnership and maybe something even more?

Or (worst yet) what if she was on a date?

Oh hell no.

Soul stood up from his slouched position and slipped on his shoes. If she was really on a date, he was going out right now and dragging her sorry ass back home to give her the lecture of her life on how guys only wanted one thing and that she needed to be more careful because she was an easy target for hormonal teenage boys and-

The lock clicked and the door swung open as Soul headed over to open it himself. His meister stomped in, a vein visibly straining in her forehead, grumbling obscenities (in Japanese?) under her breath through gritted teeth. A sigh of relief passed through his lips, calming the muscles in his body before he tensed again, ready to chew her out.

"Hey! Just where the hell have you been all this time? Huh? I've been-"

Soul froze on the spot, finally spying the young man walking into his home right after Maka. His black hood was up to hide most of his black – no, really dark brown – hair that looked an absolute mess. His hands were shoved deep into his jacket pockets and he leaned back on their now closed door. His chocolate eyes scanned their apartment thoughtfully and critically, taking in his surroundings. Soul suddenly had half the mind to gouge out the stranger's eyeballs and see how he liked the looks of their apartment _then_.

A chuckle interrupted his violent fantasy and he looked back at the dark kid who smirked at him with a cocky shine in his eye. "Nice place," he commented before fully standing up (regrettably revealing that he was a little taller than the albino) and brushed past him into the kitchen where Maka was starting dinner, a set frown on her face. She glanced up and glared at the stranger with coldness in her green eyes before returning her attention to the peppers on the cutting board, grabbing the knife with a murderous intent.

Those poor vegetables.

The guy smirked at her reaction and moved closer so that his chin was resting on her shoulder, aggravating his meister further. She chopped the peppers with an unnecessary force and Soul could easily read by his partner's actions that she was restraining herself from driving that knife into the brunette's chest.

Soul cleared his throat loudly, catching both of the kitchen occupants' attention successfully. He caught Maka's eyes (which he was glad to say softened slightly at the sight of him) and then gestured using only his eyes to the stranger on her shoulder and coughed into his hand. She seemed to get his point and scowled, shrugging the guy's head off of her shoulder and using her body to push him away at a more acceptable distance, shooting the guy a "pre-Maka-Chop" glare.

"Soul, this is Grayson. Grayson, Soul, my partner," she introduced and Soul didn't miss the venom in her voice when she said Grayson's name. He didn't blame her. Not one bit.

"Ah, Soul. I've heard about you," Grayson said, extending a hand out to him. Soul looked at it warily and looked at Maka out of the corner of his eye. She had returned to taking her anger out on tonight's dinner with the cutting knife, not noticing (or just not caring) about his and Grayson's little exchange. Deciding it was in his best intentions to side with Maka (which he was all too willing to do) Soul shoved his own hands into his jeans pockets, blatantly declining Grayson's attempt at greeting. The brunette noticed and awkwardly returned his own hand to his jacket pocket, leaning against the table.

"I'm sorry to say I haven't heard about you," Soul replied dryly. A smile snaked its way onto his face when he saw Grayson slightly deflate at his comment.

"Oh really?" Grayson looked over at Maka (who also now wore a sly smile similar to Soul's). "Maka-chan~ I can't believe you haven't been talking about me!" With a sneaky smile directed towards Soul and a slight wink before he strutted over to Maka and hugged her from behind. A growl surprised Soul as it ripped from his throat, luckily covered up by Maka's surprised shriek and roar of anger.

"Grayson! Get the hell off of me!"

"But Maka~ You keep acting like you hate me! You haven't even told your partner about me! It hurts, Angel-chan."

The kitchen became very silent after the nickname was uttered: Maka stopped her ruthless murder of vegetables, Grayson stopped his whining, and Soul was pretty sure he stopped breathing.

"Don't…call me that," Maka muttered finally, hunched over, teethed bared. She didn't even have sharp teeth like him, but Soul was pretty sure that matched with that pure fiery hatred in her eyes they were far more menacing than his own shark-like teeth.

Angel-chan? But….didn't she throw a fit over being called an angel when they were learning to fly. And now it seemed like she hated the name. Was it just because it seemed like these two didn't get along? Or at least, it seemed as if Maka didn't get along with Grayson. He seemed very chummy with his meister. A bit too chummy if you ask Soul.

So just what the hell was going on?

"So, uh, Grayson," Soul said, awkwardly breaking the silence in the kitchen. Grayson turned to face him, unwrapping his arms from Maka as he did so. Soul eyed him carefully, ready to snatch him up and kick his ass out the window if he did anything funny. "Why are you here anyways?"

A smile lit up Grayson's face, the ends of his mouth curling up very dangerously. Soul narrowed his eyes as he turned that expression towards Maka, who was now tense and frozen in place. "Oh ho ho~ Maka-chan, did you not tell him?"

Maka swiveled around, sending Grayson a glare and spat out, "I was getting to it!" He only laughed in reply as she sheepishly turned to Soul, red coating her face and her green orbs managed to avoid his by looking at various objects in the kitchen, darting back and forth frantically. Her finger found its way to her hair and started twirling and twisting one of the strands nervously. Judging by her body language, he was _not_ going to like this.

"Well, Shinigami-sama placed Grayson in our home and our care until further notice," she mumbled quietly. Grayson looked over at him, eyes gouging him for a reaction, preferably dramatic and wild.

But he was a cool guy. Cool guys didn't shout when unneeded.

"Oh." He looked over at Grayson who seemed slightly disappointed and shrugged. "Okay, I guess." But no. It was not okay. It was far from okay. If he really had any choice in the matter (and lack of self-control) Grayson would be hurtling six stories down to the sidewalk below.

By "accident" of course.

"Well, just call me when dinner's ready. I'm goin' to listen to some jazz records." Maka nodded reluctantly and cracked her knuckles as she turned back around to face the counter. He knew that she hated cracking her knuckles because she had read somewhere that it messed up your joints (so sometimes he did it just for fun). The only times she broke her own rule and did the forbidden act was when she was restraining herself from reaching out. She wanted him to stay in the kitchen and keep her company, possibly shielding her from Grayson. He would've too, but he just needed to be away from the bastard for awhile before he really _did_ push Grayson out the window "accidently."

Once he was in the safe haven of his room, away from Grayson's cocky grins and Maka's pleading eyes (directed towards him, not Grayson) he gave out a deep sigh and walked over to his jazz records, sifting through them half-mindedly. Of all things to happen to him and Maka, it had to be _this_.

* * *

_"So Whatcha think of that new kid?" Soul asked. He yanked his joystick right and pressed the yellow button on his left, affectively jumping over the offender in front of him. He swiveled back around and then pressed the green button, kicking the previous offender in the stomach, knocking him to the ground. Turning back around, he continued his way through the woods as he waited for Black Star's reply._

_ Oddly though, his comrade was silent. Not even the sound of him shouting in victory at killing the enemy was heard beside him. Soul spared a glance over at the blunette who was furiously pounding on the red button, firing his gun wildly at the already dead enemy. His brow furrowed deeply on his forehead and his mouth downturned into a scowl._

_ "You mean Grayson?" he finally spoke._

_ Soul shrugged and turned back to the screen, punching a rushing enemy with a sword aimed at him in the nick of time. "I don't know his name. But yeah, I guess."_

_ "He's a total dick."_

_ Soul laughed and kicked another enemy before stabbing him in the stomach, sending him to the forest floor. "Yeah, yeah. Stealing your spotlight, blah blah blah. You and your God complex."_

_ The arcade was filled with silence again (they were the only two there since it was during school hours) besides the screams and gun blasts from the screen. Soul concluded their conversation was over and in turn put all of his focus towards the game again. Just as he had raised his newly gained machete over his head to deliver the final blow to the current offender attacking him, Black Star's voice caught him off guard._

_ "No. He hurt Maka. And for that, he's on my hit list."_

_ The machete went into the enemy's skull with a sickening crack and squelch, digital blood squirting out of his head and onto the screen in blots. _

_ "What? How could he hurt Maka? He's hardly been here a day!" Soul said once his character began running again, almost at the edge of the forest. Soon he'd be at the checkpoint he'd worked hard to get to and he'd get there before Black Star too. Maybe that's why Black Star said what he said, to throw him off guard so he could get ahead. Well not today._

_ "You're only half-right," Black Star replied as he took out his shotgun and shot down two enemies in the distance while he hid behind a tree. Shouts of pain were heard as they fell down, giving Black Star the all-clear to keep running. "He's only been at Shibusen for a day._

_ "But he lived in Death City before he left a couple of years ago."_

_ Yet again, Black Star managed to catch the demon scythe off guard and he paused slightly, thinking over what his friend had said, giving his opponent time to hit him over the head with the butt of his gun, paralyzing him momentarily. Gathering his wits (both him and his character) he pressed the white button to punch the guy in the kisser, making him stumble backwards._

_ "So? What's that got to do with-"_

_ "Remember when you two first partnered up and how she avoided you for a good week or so?"_

_ "Yeah, but wasn't that because of her parents'-" He slashed an enemy's throat with his knife "-divorce?"_

_ "It would seem that way to anyone who didn't know."_

_ Soul yanked his joystick forward, kicking his character into a full run. He ground his teeth in frustration at his friend's vagueness. It was dancing on his last nerve and he really didn't want to spend time deciphering this shit when the checkpoint was in his grasp. "Okay, quit it with the cryptic shit, Black Star and just tell me what happened!"_

_ Black Star's current opponent dropped dead, blood leaking from his forehead. "Grayson and Maka…they were close. Real close. For _years_."_

_ Years? If they were so close, how come he's never heard of this Grayson dude? What exactly was so bad about him that Maka refused to tell him about these things?_

_ "Okay so where's this going?"_

_ Black Star slammed his hand down on the machine, turning to Soul with a disturbed look in his azure eyes, clouded over with hatred and what could possibly be bloodlust. "The goddamn bastard left her! She was devastated! She came to me – unbelievable as it is – and cried for hours! The son of a bitch stayed with her all of those years, getting closer to her than her own family could, and then he fucking leaves her to die and turn into worthless dust! If Maka wouldn't have been so tight-lipped about where he went, I would've followed and beat the guy's ass until he was on the verge of dying!"_

_ Soul blinked once, shrinking away from his anger-ridden friend who had slowly pressed into his personal space. The bloodlust was now definitely known in his eyes, poisoning them so that they were now a dark navy blue, almost black. They were eyes filled with undying hatred, ready to rip off someone's head (which is another reason Soul was putting distance between them)._

_ Maka…had she really been that hurt? _

_ "But…people move sometimes, right?" he asked feebly, watching Black Star's clenched fists carefully and barely registering the sound of his and Black Star's characters dying, sending them back to their last checkpoints._

_ "Move?" Black Star repeated darkly. He chuckled and shook his head, hiding his eyes with his blue bangs. "Oh no. He didn't move. He fucking ran away. Maka, she told me that she had begged him to stay, but he wouldn't listen. When she was crying, she kept on saying things like 'Can't believe he would do this to her' and 'Why now of all times' and 'What pushed him to do this.'" He leaned back and sadly smiled at Soul, the menacing aura around him slowly dissipating, much to the albino's relief._

_ "From what I put together, the guy left her because he wanted to. He left her lying in the dirt and practically stabbed her in the back." His eyes roamed over back to the game screen, where his character had lost yet another life from the neglect of his controller. "He practically killed my best friend," he said softly, scaring Soul at how strange he was acting compared to his loud and boisterous attitude._

_ Soul remained silent himself, shoving his hands into his pockets as he watched his avatar get killed for the last time, the blinking "Game Over" on the screen beginning to drip blood. He leaned against the arcade machine, tilted to face Black Star. "So if the guy pisses you off so much, why don't you just beat him up now?"_

_ Black Star sighed and clenched his fists, silently saying "I would if I could." He turned around and headed towards the front of the arcade, saying over his shoulder, "I'm just waiting for Maka to act first. Who knows? Maybe she'll decide to give the son of a bitch a chance." He shrugged and turned back around. "The dick certainly doesn't deserve it though. What he needs is my fist shoved down his throat, clenched around his heart. But hey, not my decision," he added light-heartedly, a sudden mood swing from his dark mood._

_ Soul watched Black Star leave the arcade silently, giving the game once last look before trudging after his friend, hunched over and quietly contemplating on ignoring Black Star's plan and going to punch this guy's lights out right now._

_ No. He'd wait. The opportune moment would come, and he'd avenge Maka then._

* * *

Soul sighed as he laid on his back, staring at the ceiling. He closed his eyes, faintly smelling the stir fry that Maka was beginning to cook on the stove and drooling in anticipation. Remembering that, he also thought of Grayson in the kitchen, probably bugging Maka to no end. Soul frowned.

Perhaps, the opportune moment was when Grayson just so "happened" to be standing next to an open window with his back turned and just so "happened" to trip and fall out said window.

By accident, of course.

* * *

**Author's Comments:**

**Aha! You will not best me chapter 6! :D I finally finished you~**

**Sorry for the long wait. I tend to get lazy in the summer. But now that school's starting, my ambition has returned. 'Cause I'm not a normal writer. I update during the school year more than the summer. I just do.**

**So~ This chapter came out a little differently than planned, but I personally think it came out better than the original version. Plus, if I hadn't cut out this one scene, the chapter would be too long (I try to keep it under 6,000 words per chapter). Besides, I can now use that scene for the next chapter (which I've had some real trouble planning).**

**Um, I'm finally throwing my pride aside and I'm asking for a beta. I'm too lazy to look around for one so I'm hoping that one will just come to me. :D Haha. A girl can try. Really, I just want a beta to look over something that seems off to me or to bounce ideas off of. Nothing big.**

**I have recently fallen in love with this band called **_**Abney Park**_**. :D Who knew steampunk was a music genre? I DIDN'T UNTIL NOW. I am not tempting to write my own steampunk/pirate story for Soul Eater. Would anyone be up for reading one or the other? Tell me now or forever hold your peace.**

**I have a current poll on my profile if you wouldn't mind going to look at that. Please? I'm thinking about doing my first SE crossover.**

**I'm hoping chapter 7 will come out a lot faster than this now that school's starting. You see, my brain shuts down during the summer and it takes a lot of drive for me to write. And in summer is when I get the worst case of writer's block. ._. And it sucks. Bad.**

**I'm thinking about doing a contest for this story. If I get enough reviews (the number will remain a secret to all but me) I will then announce the contest. I gotta know that enough people care about this story. Here's a sneak peek though: It involves something most stories/book have. ;)**

**Um, anything else? Ah! Questions!**

Does Grayson have Grigori soul?

**Yes. Anyone who I mention that is an angel has a Grigori soul and vice versa.**

Is Soul gonna get the wrong idea about Maka and Grayson and get jealous ?

**Perhaps….You're just gonna have to keep reading, aren't you?**

**And for my fun fact! :D Haha, I bet no one cares about these, but they're fun to post.**

**GP Fun Fact Deux:**

**I have officially made **_Evil Angel_ **by Breaking Benjamin Grayson's theme song. NO ONE WILL EVER CHANGE MY MIND. EVAR.**

**Haha. Reviews please? Let me know you don't hate me for neglecting this for so long? Please and thank you~**

**Until next time~**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

A piercing scream cut through the once silent apartment. Soul jolted from his slumber immediately in a cold sweat, growing ill and panicked when he recognized the scream as his meister's. He threw his blanket to the floor unceremoniously and sprinted from his room to Maka's hoping that nothing serious was going down behind her door. Just in case, he transformed his left arm into a blade and pushed open the door with the other, holding up his scythe-arm in a position of offense.

Seconds of silence passed as Soul scanned the scene, grunting in frustration and annoyance when he saw a dazed and half-asleep Grayson on the floor and a flushing Maka clutching her blankets to her chest. Grayson rubbed the side of his head and Maka continued to shriek obscenities at him, cursing him left and right. Deeming it safe enough to put away the heavy artillery, Soul transformed his arm back into the regular bone and flesh and leaned against the door frame, crossing his arms across his bare chest.

"Damn, Maka. It sounded like you were dying or something," he yawned.

"Shut it!" she yelled, rounding on him with burning fury in her eyes. "I wake up to find _this_-" she pointed to Grayson "-lying in my bed, smiling at me! What the _fuck_ do you think I'm going to do? Smile back and wish him a good morning!"

Soul yawned and shuffled into the room, shooting daggers at the waking Grayson as he made his way to his meister's bed. She was still sitting there with her blanket clutched to her chest and smoke practically rising from her ears. The demon scythe chuckled at the little display and reached out to ruffle her blonde locks into something a little worse than the bedhead already present. "Relax, Maka. Don't let him ruin your morning. S'not cool."

Her jaw clenched and she released a throaty growl. She was starting to take after him. He was almost prideful.

"So not caring right now, Soul."

"Soooo," Grayson interrupted, jumping up from the ground and dusting his gray plaid sweatpants off. "What's for breakfast? I like waffles. Anyone else up for some waffles?"

"Grayson get out of my room!"

"Sharing is caring, Maka-chan~"

"I will spring across this room to strangle you right now!"

Grayson chuckled and swiveled on his heel, waving his hand casually. "Now, now; don't be rash. Besides," he looked over his shoulder in mirth, smirking in a devilish way far too early to be processed correctly by either member of the weapon-meister pair in the room. "I'm sure you don't want Soul to see your polka dotted panties, hmmm?"

Silence.

The heat rushed to Soul's face as the awkward silence droned on as he thought of the panties Maka was hiding beneath her blanket, her _summer_ blanket. The one that was ultra thin because of how hot it could get in the summer months in the middle of the desert. He also thought of how much thinner her panties could be….

He could've spontaneously combusted from the heat rushing to his head now.

Luckily, before such a chance arose, he was startled out of his skin by Maka's deathly shriek and the blur of blonde hair and crème skin rushing across the room after a now running Grayson.

**"Grayson you're mince meat!"**

* * *

Ignoring the very eventful morning they encountered – from Soul's wake-up call to a wrestling match that could've nearly demolished the apartment complex – Soul noticed that they arrived to school at a fair time. They had about twenty minutes until class started which gave them enough time to stroll through the halls and talk to friends they ran into. Or rather, Soul talked to friends, while Grayson and Maka argued. Nonstop.

This was beginning to get old before it was ever new.

"Quit smiling at people like you _know_ them! You're not staying here long anyway so don't even try to get friendly with anyone!"

"Oh, c'mon, Maka-chan. I'm just trying to be polite. Don't you know of a thing called 'manners?'"

"I'm surprised you know of the word."

"I can hardly contain my laughter."

"Don't get sarcastic with me."

"Calm down! Don't wanna get your polka dot panties in a bunch, would we now?"

"You know what-"

"Would the both of you just shut your mouths for two freaking seconds? For Death's sake!"

Maka poked out her bottom lip and crossed her arms, speeding up to keep in stride with Soul and escape Grayson. "He's so annoying though! You have to admit, he's annoying."

Soul ran a hand down his face before shoving it forcefully into his pocket. He glanced down out of the corner of his eye, red eyes piercing into his meister. "Frankly, both of you are. There. Argument settled."

"Soul!"

_"Soul!"_

Maka froze and whipped around. "Seriously? You're being childish now?"

Grayson put his hands on his hips and jerked his head from side-to-side mockingly. _"Seriously? You're being childish now?"_

"Oh ho ho! You are _so_ asking for it you twerp!"

_"Oh ho ho! You are _so_ asking for it you twerp!"_

Maka felt her muscles tense in preparation to pounce and her fingers curled in anticipation of clawing out the eyes of the one causing her so much grief and frustration. She grit her teeth together and began thinking of the many ways to kill the fallen angel without leaving a spot of blood on the newly waxed Shibusen floor. She frowned. None of them were painful enough.

A vise-like grip wrapped around her arm and the tension disappeared as she turned to face her partner, face hard and stern but eyes pleading and soft. "Maka. Don't."

"But he deserves it!"

"Maka."

"You see the way he's acting!"

He sighed and shook his head and Maka hung her head, feeling ashamed that she managed to stoop to such a low level. "Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Soul. He's just so….infuriating."

Soul nodded and started walking again, Maka following closely behind, her back to Grayson. The third member of their party stood for a moment as if expecting them to turn around and ask him if he was coming. When they didn't, he hunched over and dug his hands deep into his pants pockets, grumbling about how it was rude to be ignored in such a way.

They didn't hear that either.

* * *

School was to begin in ten minutes, so the group of three decided it was finally time to head to class. Soul had taken to wrapping his arm around Maka's shoulders as they walked down the hall because of the looks she and Grayson continued to exchange when they thought he wasn't looking. But he was watching them carefully: every gesture, every mouthed word (some of which we feel would be improper to repeat), every look, every stare, and even the occasional sound of discontent. He ignored the light feeling it gave him to have his arm wrapped so possessively around his meister (but secretly reveled in the triumph feeling he got as he watched defeated slouches from the male populace of Shibusen) and reminded himself over and over again that it was to prevent a fight from falling out. His morning was full of it.

They took their respective seats; Soul groaned to discover that Grayson sat in the seat next to Maka. The close proximity would mean that they would be fighting all day and Soul wasn't sure if he would be able to take much more before submitting to the Little Demon haunting the recesses of his soul. So despite her protests, Soul plopped himself down in Maka's seat and laid his head on the desk, officially claiming his new territory. Maka grumbled a bit to herself, no doubt about him, but took his old seat without much of an argument and pulled out a notebook and a pen. Grayson didn't even seem to notice.

Time passed, students filed in, and the class began to fill quickly. Chatter buzzed around them like the background noise of the static of a radio that no one bothered to fix. Students laughed and joked, discussing plans to hang out later with smiles on their faces. Except for the three current residents of Maka and Soul's apartment. They were all silent, involved in their own activities. Maka had her face up close and personal with her novel, Soul was leaning back in his chair while he nodded his head to the beat emitting from his headphones, and Grayson wasn't doing much of anything but laying his head on the desk, smiling occasionally from behind his arms when he saw a girl look over his way and blushed cutely.

All was peaceful until a raucous crash from outside the classroom door accompanied with an obnoxious screech and boisterous laughter. Maka groaned and hid behind her book completely, knowing who was about to enter the classroom. She was one of many.

"YAHOO!"

Their "God" had arrived.

Trailing behind the self-proclaimed entity was his weapon and most loyal follower, Tsubaki and the Death Trio (Maka couldn't recall when that name spread around or who started it, but it _was_ catchy). Maka briefly peeked over the top of her book to see Black Star bounding up the lecture hall steps to his normal seat – right behind them – and Tsubaki trudging after him, dark bags under her dim eyes, stark against her pale complexion. Maka visibly flinched at her friend's ill-kempt appearance and sympathized for the poor shadow weapon. In spite of her condition, Tsubaki still managed to find the energy to turn and give Maka and smile and "Good morning" before unceremoniously dropping dead on her desk, not even attempting to get Black Star to climb off his desk and sit down.

Kid and the demon twins climbed the stairs next. Kid was glancing around the classroom nervously, sweat almost visible on his forehead. At first, Maka deduced something or someone must've been asymmetrical but a quick glance around the classroom told her otherwise. Looking back at Kid, she found out why he was so nervous. Leeched onto his arm was none other than his bubbly demon gun, Patty. Both of her thin arms were wrapped around his elegantly clothed one, her head nuzzling his shoulder cutely and affectionately.

It was adorable.

Maka almost giggled behind her book. Something must've transpired between the two the previous night and now here they were, showing the school of their newfound relationship. Of course that's why Kid was nervous. He didn't know how the others would take it. That, or it was because Patty was only hanging on one arm. Either way, kudos to them. At least he had the courage to be so open about it. God knows Black Star was taking forever to confess to Tsubaki. As obvious as he was and as much as Tsubaki hinted that she felt the same, he just would not say anything. Being the caring friend she was, Maka wanted the best for her friend. So if it came to it that she had to beat the blunette over the head with an encyclopedia to get him to confess, so be it.

Maka watched as Kid and Patty took seats next to each other in the row below them, Patty continuing to cling to the shinigami and him finally returning her affection by grabbing one of her hands and clutching it in his own. Maka wanted to gush like the closet romantic she was (she had gotten better over the years since her parents' divorce). Until she saw that Liz had completely abandoned her meister and sister to come up to the row she was currently on. By the way Liz swayed her hips seductively and smiled temptingly, Maka knew just what she was doing. And it made her blood boil.

She had _warned_ her _not to fuck with Grayson_.

No one listened to the blonde scythemeister. Apparently, for all the books she read, she didn't know anything.

Liz sat on the other side of Grayson and whipped her hair around her head, sending the smell of Parisian perfume three seats down to where she was sitting. She almost gagged on the sweet fragrance and buried her face into her book, which smelled like book and old paper. Thank God.

Tsubaki was exhausted. Black Star was noisy. Soul was half-asleep and unhelpful to anything. Kid and Patty were all lovey-dovey. Liz was flirtatious. Grayson was arrogant.

It was going to be one heck of a day in Shibusen.

"So class! Today we'll be looking at the interior of a soul to see just what makes people tick. Any volunteers?"

A thud resounded throughout the classroom and Maka flopped face down on her desk.

She stood corrected. It was going to be a disastrous day.

* * *

Lunch was hell. Actually, no. It was worse than hell. A thousand times over.

Now before things are assumed, no nothing broke out into chaos. A witch did not break into Shibusen and start capturing students as slaves. A kishin did not bombard through the cafeteria looking a good meal consisting of souls and flesh. Black Star did not start a fight with some random unlucky student (well, almost but we'll leave that alone for now). Grayson's friends didn't suddenly decide that they didn't want to wait and kidnap Maka. Although, considering what did happen at lunch, all of the above sounded more appealing.

"So Maka-chan, what should I wear to the party?" Grayson asked.

Maka twitched at the sight of the smirk plastered on Grayson's face and wished nothing more than to be relocated to Timbuktu to get away from everything.

As a means of getting closer to Grayson, Liz had suggested a party to welcome him to Death City at Kid's mansion. Kid didn't seem to mind when she had mentioned it. Then again, as him and Patty were making kissy faces at each other, nothing would've bothered him at that moment, not even Black Star destroying the school unevenly. Their newlywed phase was getting old fast.

Black Star of course agreed fully and enthusiastically to the party (despite the reason for it) because he would be the spotlight of the party blah blah blah. Tsubaki agreed because her meister did, not because she was loyal to him, but someone had to keep him in check near alcohol (which Liz was old enough to access as of a year ago and had started buying it for parties ever since).

The only ones that weren't enthused for the welcoming party were Maka and Soul. Soul didn't like parties and Maka didn't like Grayson. So a party for Grayson wasn't on their wish list of things to do. But Maka wanted to make sure Liz knew what she was getting herself into by pursuing the fallen angel, so she slapped on a fake smile and accepted the invitation, much to her and Soul's dismay.

And now here she was, sitting on the couch trying to get some reading done before she was supposed to get ready while Grayson bugged her to no end.

"I really couldn't care less, Grayson. Now shut it. I'm trying to read," she deadpanned, turning her attention back to her book. Grayson shrugged figuring he'd annoy her later and walked off to the kitchen sifting through the contents in the fridge.

When only the sound of things being moved around in the kitchen were present, Maka relaxed into the couch, diving back into the world of fantasy her book offered her. She didn't understand why no one thought reading was cool (cough Soul cough). It offered a sort of solace and escape. You could forget your own worries for awhile and instead could read of others, even if they were made-up. And since Soul never liked to confide in her as much as she would like, reading would be a great way for him to find comfort. It was the laziness that stopped him, she just knew it.

She heard Grayson re-enter the room but continued to read her novel, her intent on ignoring him. Not a word came from either body in the living room as Maka read and Grayson munched on some chips. Soul was out at the moment, buying some refreshments to bring to the party. He was hesitant to do so, but Maka insisted he get something so it wouldn't seem rude when they showed up with nothing. She stayed behind, meaning to start getting ready and putting on make-up and everything, but then she tripped over her book – literally – and was drawn in by the temptation to read. She'd get ready in a few minutes. Promise.

As she was nearing the end of the chapter, marking it as the place where she'd leave off before she would start to prepare, Grayson spoke up.

"I think your friend Liz is coming onto me."

The grip on her book tightened but her expression never changed. "Oh? And what makes you think that?"

Grayson shifted a bit from the venom in her tone, sensing that this would be a touchy topic. He'd have to tread carefully. "Well she was flirting with me all class today. Lunch too," he added thoughtfully.

"Maybe she just wants to get to know you."

"Yeah, so she can lay me."

Maka slammed her book and closed and whipped to face Grayson whose face was the epitome of fear. "Maka! That was a slip up! I didn't mean it that way!"

"I don't care!" she screeched. Her legs tensed up before she sprung and pounced like a cheetah attacking its prey. Her nails clawed and her teeth ground against each other as she attempted to inflict damage on a struggling Grayson. The brunette below her blocked his face with his hands and she scratched, slapped, punched, kneed…you name it. If Soul was there, she'd have cleaved him in two by that point.

"You don't go _near_ Liz! Don't touch her! Don't talk to her! Don't think of her! Don't even look at her!" She climbed higher and pressed her knee into his abdomen, sending air whooshing out of his mouth as he gagged on the lack of air. "You got me? She's my friend and I'll be damned if I let you betray her like you betrayed me!"

Grayson opened his eyes and looked up at the blonde technician's seething form with hurt chestnut eyes. Easily he took hold of her flailing wrists, holding them still between their bodies as she screeched and squirmed on his lap. He slid off of the chair to the floor, Maka below him and pinned her wrists to the ground. When she continued to squirm ruthlessly, he locked her hips with his knees. She wriggled in his grasp helplessly and glared coldly while she began screeching profanities threaded with his name.

Soon enough, the anger left her high and dry and she laid beneath him, tired and defeated. They both said nothing, Maka looking up at him with dim hatred in her viridian eyes while he gazed back with steeled over dark ones. They stayed like that for a moment, then another, and another, staring at each other with neither willing to look away.

"I _never, __**ever**_ betrayed you, Maka."

Maka tensed and widened her eyes in shock. She hadn't been expecting him to say that.

"But – but you left me! You left me alone to go join that stupid organization!" she cried, her voice croaking and eyes filling with tears. "You _did_ betray me!"

"I didn't," insisted Grayson. "I promise you, I would never betray you."

_"But you did!"_

Grayson sighed. "I left Death City for a good reason, Maka. I left for you."

Maka paused. "You mean because of me."

Grayson shook his head, throwing his wild hair everywhere. "_For_ you."

If there was ever a good time to sink into the floor and disappear, it was then. Maka just wanted to escape, possibly run to her room to cry and begin the mental process of denying everything Grayson said. All he spoke of were lies. He had when they were younger. Why would he be any different now?

"I don't believe you. You're lying. You always do!" she whispered. She didn't have the energy to scream and shout anymore; she probably couldn't even speak properly.

"I would never lie."

"You're doing it right now!" So she could yell.

"Maka-chan, I promise I would never-"

"Stop it!" she screamed, beginning to thrash on the floor again. "Just stop it! I don't care about you! I'm glad you left! I hate you! I hate you! Just go and leave Death City again! Just! Go! _Away!_"

"Maka listen! I-"

"No!"

Grayson grunted and lifted her wrist before slamming them down on the floor again, abruptly ending Maka's tyrant. She fell silent immediately, staring at him with tear-filled eyes and a sad expression.

"They wanted you, okay? So I left. I left for you!"

Her lower lip trembled. "They?"

Grayson relaxed and nodded. "The organization. They wanted you, all of those years ago. Just as they want you now."

"But how-"

"Did I know?" Grayson finished with a smile. Maka nodded and sniffled; a few tears ran down her face when she blinked. "I was walking to your house one night and I saw two weird guys across the street. So I snuck up on them and heard them saying that they were going to kidnap you….and force you to be a part of their organization. So I stepped in and told them I'd go in your place."

The gears in her head turned at inhuman speeds as she mulled over the information provided for her. She lay as she processed everything he told her, wanting to believe it so bad. He still cared for her is what he was telling her. He still _cared_. And dear God how much she wanted to believe he was telling the truth. She'd give up anything for him to be telling the truth.

But the fact remained that he left her for them. He left her in a high time of need as her whole life was beginning to change. She needed something, she needed him, some sense of normalcy in her hectic life as she started school and moved into her partner's apartment. She needed someone to cry to as her parents fought while they settled their divorce. She needed someone to hold her as her mother waved goodbye before she set off to the world, making hollow promises to visit her a couple of times a year.

He wasn't there for her when she needed him to be.

Grayson's eyebrows knitted together when more tears built up in her eyes and spilled over as she began to tremble with contained sobs. "Maka, I know what you're thinking." He smiled when she cocked an eyebrow. "You're obvious," he shrugged.

"But know this," he continued. "Maka, you know I would never lie to you. I promise you I didn't want to leave. I didn't want to hurt you, but I figured it would be worse if they took you away from your home. You just got a new partner and you were starting school, I didn't want that to end for you. So I took your place. I had nothing for me going here. You had everything."

"But I didn't have you!"

Grayson fell silent and avoided her sorrowful eyes and she cried freely now. "You left me when I needed you! You fucking left me! I didn't know what to do! If it weren't for Black Star and that I had made a promise to Soul I probably would've killed myself or something!"

Without warning, her personal space was invaded (even more than it already was) as Grayson pressed his face close to hers and bared his teeth. "Don't you _ever_ say that again. I don't want to hear those words leave your lips for as long as I live you got me? The Maka I knew was not that weak and you've gotten even stronger since then! Don't even kid around like that!"

He backed up and climbed off of her. He held out his hand to help her sit up, but she just stared at him with wet green eyes rimmed with red. It broke his heart.

"Maka please-"

He was interrupted by a sudden death hug from said girl, who began to sob on his shoulder. Unaware of what to do at the current moment, he settled for stroking her blonde hair and wrapping his arm around her waist as she soaked his shirt. They sat there in that position for awhile, Maka strewn over his lap, crying and squeezing him while he soothed and comforted her, occasionally whispering apologies. When the crying eventually ceased, Maka leaned back and stared at him with swollen, red eyes and a tear-streaked face. He reached up and wiped the water from her face, cleaning her up the best he could.

"Maka, I love you, you know that, right?"

The scythe technician blinked in disbelief before croaking out a quiet, "Still?"

Grayson nodded. "Still."

Nothing was said for some time, the only sound Maka's quiet sniffling. Grayson still loved her. He didn't just care, _he loved her_. It made her so happy and so giddy she could've self-imploded at the thought. Because dammit _Grayson still loved her!_ When he left, he didn't start to hate her. He didn't leave because he hated her. He's loved her all of this time! She was a bit sorry to say she couldn't say the same. After his departure, once the initial shock wore off, the hatred kicked in. He left her alone in a time of need. So it was a natural reaction correct?

Gah! Grayson still loved her!

A grin etched itself onto her face and she wrapped her arms around his neck, throwing him to his back on the floor. He yelped in surprise when his back connected with the hardwood but chuckled when Maka nuzzled her face into his chest.  
"I love you too, you dumbass."

* * *

Soul snuck past the happy couple on the floor in each other's arms, oozing anger and aggression. Once he got into his room, he dropped the bags full of cookies and chips, not giving a damn if they spilled out or crumbled and broke. He just didn't care anymore.

His fists clenched and unclenched as he tried to halt the trembling of his hands from the rage running through his veins. Maka and Grayson….they confessed to each other in front of his eyes. Maka, _his_ meister, _his_ best friend, _his_ crush and maybe-possibly the love of his life had just confessed _to another man!_

"Grah!"

His fist bounced off of his wall, only leaving a small dent as the product of only a smidge of his anger. There was so much more to express but not enough to do so on. Not without completely trashing his room and rendering it unrecognizable if not unsafe to live in.

When he went out, Maka insisted she stay at home. She wanted to have time to get ready. Since she was a girl and girls took forever to get ready – it's a proven fact – he allowed her to. He went off alone, getting snacks _for her_ because _she asked him to_. He'd gone out in freezing temperatures because she batted those dumb eyelashes at him and poked out that stupid lower lip into a pout. And for what? To come back home to be rewarded with his girl on another man's lap.

"Argh!"

He grabbed the nearest thing in reach, a stapler, and chucked it at his wall, putting all of his power and adrenaline into it. It collided with the wall with a loud and stunning _thud_ before clattering to the floor where it lay on its side sadly. Yet it didn't satisfy Soul's anger. Hardly. He was only just getting started.

That _bastard!_ It was his fault! It had to be! He and Maka were happy and alone and fucking a-okay before that bastard came along! The son-of-a-bitch just had to come and fuck up everything he and Maka had going on, didn't he? The universe was surly laughing at the albino demon scythe right now. All of these years, it had dangled Maka right in front of him, clearly in his reach, tempting him to just take her as his. But he'd been chicken and kept putting it off, thinking he had all of the time in the world.

He knew it. Once those partnership request letters began appearing in her locker, he knew he should've made his move then. But he'd still been too nervous. What if she rejected him? Her track record with men wasn't the best. She may've been too afraid to want to start a relationship with him. Perhaps a letter from someone would've have persuaded her to leave him for some other guy and he'd be alone with no one.

That's why he broke into her locker by spying on her as she put in the combination one day. He'd learned it by heart and within a week, all of her partner request letters dwindled to practically nothing. She'd been severely disheartened by this, but Soul assured himself he was doing it for her sake. Those guys weren't good enough. Not for his meister. His actions were justified.

Soul thought by taking away her opportunities to leave him, he'd have more time to gather up the guts to confess.

But someone _still_ beat him to it!

"Fucking hell!"

He kicked his waste bin and knocked it over, spilling out balls of paper and empty cans of soda on his floor.

Damn, why him? Why did this have to happen to him?

His anger began to ebb away and was replaced by regret and sorrow. He wasn't fast enough. He'd had all of this time to confess and make her his, to become her one and only, but he'd wasted it by cowering in fear. God, he was so fucking uncool. And now that someone finally had the guts to confess to his meister, he was throwing a tantrum like a toddler.

Soul leaned against his wall and slid down to his floor, gripping the sides of his head. "She's happy now, right? Maybe I just wasn't the one for her," he mumbled as the last of his anger and hatred drained out of him, bringing the rest of his energy with him. Now he just wanted sleep. He was exhausted emotionally and felt weighed down by his despair. Unfortunately, they had this stupid party to attend in honor of _him_. The very one who stole his meister under his nose.

"Fuck my life."

* * *

It couldn't have gotten more awkward than this.

Soul and Grayson both sat on the couch, dressed and ready to go. They were simply waiting for Maka to come out to leave. So there they sat, in silence, being awkward.

Or, at least Soul was awkward. Grayson was probably sitting on his high horse, reveling in the fact that he had just obtained Maka's love, unlike the demon scythe. The thought almost made Soul break out into another violent fit, but he restrained himself. As tempting as it was to reach over and wring his hands around Grayson's neck. He wasn't going to upset Maka because of his selfishness.

He folded his hands in his lap just in case.

After extended moments of strained silence between the two, Maka finally strutted out of her room all primped and pretty. She smiled at the two on the couch and twirled all the way around, giving them a view of her full body. "So, how do I look?"

Stunning. Beautiful. Breath-taking. Gorgeous. Attractive. None of the above could even begin to describe how she looked.

The party was a casual one, a gathering more than anything. Of course it was his meister that would still dress to impress. Her shirt dipped low, her skirt rose high, those heels drew attention to her long, sculpted legs, and her hair hung loose with her bangs swept off to one side. Soul had to bite his tongue to keep it inside of his mouth instead of hanging out in the sudden onslaught of horniness that washed over him.

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

They arrived fashionably late since Soul's motorcycle couldn't hold three people. Despite having to walk all of the way to Kid's mansion, Soul didn't mind it. Because if they did take his bike, he probably would've exploded from the closeness of Maka in that outfit. No, take out the probably, he _would_ have exploded if that happened.

Liz greeted them at the door and her eyes brightened when she spotted Grayson on Maka's right. She smiled extra wide and made out a special greeting to him before taking his wrist and dragging him ahead, immediately engaging him in conversation. Soul and Maka were left behind by themselves as Liz clung to Grayson's arm and Grayson just uncomfortably shifted and glanced back at Maka. When he didn't get a reaction out of her, he turned back to Liz and smiled softly, replying to whatever she had said.

Soul looked down at his partner to see her chewing on her bottom lip, obviously contemplating something. She was probably worried or jealous because he'd just been taken away from her and Soul couldn't help but feel a little angry that Grayson had the balls to walk off with another woman while his girlfriend watched. And it made him angrier to admit to himself that Maka was Grayson's girlfriend.

Maka looked up at him and Soul quickly turned away, taking sudden interest in the décor around the large hall they were in, wishing nothing more than to dissolve into nothing at that moment before he exploded from the override of emotions. "Um, I'm gonna go find Black Star," he said and made his way into the crowd. A pair of hands yanked him back and he found himself in the same spot as before, right next to Maka.

"Don't leave!" she begged, eyes wide and pleading. Oh no here it comes.

The lower lip. The batted eyelashes. They got him every time.

Soul sighed and scratched the back of his head, muttering a "Fine" as he glanced around the large room, looking for something or someone to save him from this current situation.

Maka smiled at him, although he didn't see it. "Thank you, Soul."

They didn't do much but stand there and watch the crowd mingle and dance, standing on the sidelines and refusing to join in. Soul spotted Liz and Grayson in the crowd, dancing closely. Liz laughed at something Grayson said while he just grinned and slid his hands onto her waist. Soul's stomach twisted and he looked down at Maka who was staring at the same thing he was. Her face had a look of uneasy, as if she were unsure of what to do or how to go about something. She was chewing on her bottom lip again.

It was happening all over again for her. But this was worse. She had just confessed to the guy and already he was cheating on her! With one of her friends no less!

"Hey, Soul," she spoke up, bringing him out of his thoughts. Soul dropped his eyes down to Maka's shy face and watched intently as she stumbled over her words. "Do you wanna dance with me?"

His ears picked up on the music, it was a moderately fast tune. The tempo was paced nicely, the beat wasn't deafening but it was loud. It wasn't a perfect song or one he could particularly get into, but it wasn't bad either. That didn't really make him want to dance to it however.

"Not really," he dismissed, shaking his arm from her grip. He spotted Black Star preaching loudly to a jaded Tsubaki and decided to save the shadow weapon by stealing Black Star away and doing something stupid with him to get Maka off of his mind. He didn't need to deal with this shit right now. "I can see Black Star bothering Tsubaki. I'm going to go and talk to him. See ya later." And without waiting for a response, he was already being swallowed up into the heart of the crowd. Maka lamely held out her hand for him to come back before hunching over in sadness at being abandoned. She looked around desperately for someone to talk to, but everyone already seemed so immersed in their conversations. They wouldn't have room for her anyway.

She shuffled along the edges of the room, keeping an eye out for someone that was just as lonely as her. Soul had left her to talk to Black Star and the two were currently goofing it up by the fruit punch, laughing and joking around. Patty was talking to Tsubaki, giggling and playing with the elder weapon's hair. Grayson and Liz were still on the dance floor which she wasn't sure how to feel about. Sure, Grayson seemed like a good guy at the moment, but was it just some act to get her to trust him to lure her back with him to that goddamn organization?

No. He seemed so sincere back at the apartment. Liz was fine. She wouldn't interfere.

So far, there wasn't any sign of Kid. Surely he'd be with Patty right?

She'd spoken too soon. He was coming behind her with a large plate of food and sat down next to her, feeding her grapes as she continued to braid Tsubaki's hair. Tsubaki smiled and said something to which Kid and Patty smiled back and responded.

Everyone was busy without her. It was fine. She needed alone time to sort things out anyway.

Making sure that no one saw, Maka crept upstairs, intending on spending some time out on the balcony. No one would exactly miss her anyway. It would give her time to think over everything going on in her hectic life. So maneuvering her way through the vast hallways in Kid's home she finally found her way to a balcony that overlooked the backyard. The air was cool and Maka knew it would only grow colder as the sun set, but she didn't bother going back downstairs for her sweater. She could do without for now.

Below her was the garden layout, tended to carefully and as to be expected, symmetrically. Maka smiled fondly at her dear old friend's obsessive habits and hoped that Patty would be able to loosen him up a bit. Knowing Patty, she'd manage.

The breeze brushed past her, biting at her open arms gently and sending prickles throughout her body. She shivered slightly but remained where she was. It was still nice enough out to admire the scenery and to catch a breather. Not to mention she hadn't even gotten a chance to think about what she came up here for.

Grayson. Liz. Soul. Kid and Patty. Tsubaki.

Herself.

Everything was just a whirlwind of emotions and events and it was becoming difficult to keep up. Previously, before Grayson had crashed in, things were good. The amount of missions was slimming to nothing, everyone liked each other mutually and equally, and the stress on Maka's plate would've hardly been enough to feed an infant.

Now she wasn't implying that she wasn't happy to see Grayson again, especially now that he'd explained his actions. In fact she was ecstatic that he was here with her after all of these years, even in grim circumstances. It was still great to have someone who cared for her deeply here that she'd grieved over ever since his departure.

Maka smiled. She got her big brother back.

A big brother who loved her.

Sure, she'd still have to wary of him as Shinigami-sama had ordered her to. Even without orders, Maka would've kept a close eye on the fallen angel in case he turned rogue at the drop of a hat. She couldn't risk losing him again. It was bad enough Soul's life was currently at risk, she didn't need to fret over Grayson as well.

The thought of her white-haired partner caused her to sigh. "Oh Soul, why do you always cause me trouble wherever we go?"

"That's not fair to him. How do you know that you're not the one causing the trouble?"

Maka barely flinched. "What the hell are you doing here? As far as I know, I haven't lost any basketballs or bracelets lately."

Stanton stepped onto the balcony in a snobbish manner, smirking at Maka when he approached her side. He leaned on the railing just as she was, looking down at the garden as well. "But there is something you've lost." When Maka quirked an eyebrow in question, curious as to something she could've misplaced Stanton chuckled and leaned in towards her ear. The scythemeister flinched from the close proximity and attempted to escape him as his warm breath tickled her chilled ear. "Time."

"Wha-"

Not giving her a chance to finish her statement of surprise, Stanton pushed her into the balcony railing, effectively winding her. As she coughed and sputtered he reached around her waist and yanked her back by her hair. She yelped loudly and reached back to inflict damage just to find her attempts fruitless. She struggled against his grip vainly as he laughed deeply in her ear, amused by the sight of his wriggling prey. He pulled tighter on her hair and his mirth grew when he was rewarded with a pained whimper.

"Grayson, he told me I had a week! It's only been five days! I have two days left!"

The air was still as there was a split second pause before Stanton began guffawing in absolute delight and hilarity of the situation. "And you believed him!"

Maka cringed and the doubts of just how truthful Grayson was kicked in. She knew she shouldn't have trusted him, she just _knew!_ It was her idiocy that had her in this situation and her idiocy that would have Soul's head on a silver platter. It was all her fault.

Stanton shrugged and placed his hairy chin on Maka's shoulder, ignoring the grunt of annoyance he received as one may pass off an unplanned rude comment. "I guess it's to be expected though. You'd do anything just to believe onii-san, hmm?"

"Shut up!"

Both Maka and Stanton froze at the new voice that had entered their conversation unexpectedly. The first to recover was the brute angel, who grinned and laughed, looking over his shoulder to discover a fuming Grayson in the arch doorway. His humorous steel eyes locked with Grayson's furious chocolate ones. The two stared the other down for a few seconds time as Maka used this new distraction to wiggle out of Stanton's grasp. It was a slow-going process given that his grip was tight on both her waist and hair and she couldn't really get out of either and not expect pain.

Finally Grayson spoke. "Let her go. Right now."

Without further prompting, Stanton obediently let go of Maka, who stumbled a bit as she steadied herself to stand on her own again. When she regained her bearings, she looked expectantly at Grayson who didn't seem to even acknowledge her any further.

"I want you to leave her alone until the week is over. You're breaking procedure by coming here two days earlier than planned." He reached out for Maka's hand and gently tugged her to his side. "I hope Boss punishes you for this."

Stanton only shrugged and opened his wings. Without a word, he leaped onto the balcony railing and saluted to them, giving Maka an extra wink, and took flight into the sky. Once he was gone from sight, Grayson turned to Maka and looked her up and down, checking for any serious damage. "Are you alright?"

Instead of answering, she asked, "Is that guy always hands on with things?"

Grayson chuckled and ruffled her already mussed up hair. "Unfortunately."

Maka stuck out her tongue in disgust and squeezed his hand once. "I'm taking an extra long shower tonight to get the grime from his hands and breath off of me.

"So why are you up here anyway?"

Grayson slid his hand from Maka's grip and turned around to walk off the balcony. He motioned for Maka to follow which she did, closing the doors behind her. "Well first, I could sense Stanton-"

"He's not a very hard soul to miss," Maka agreed.

"And I came to tell you that your friend Tsubaki passed out," Grayson continued.

The panic and worry over the well-being of her friend kicked in the second the last period rolled off Grayson's tongue. Not long after the panic took over did the questions begin.

"What? What do you mean she passed out? Is she okay? What happened? She doesn't have to have some kind of surgery does she? Oh God! She's not dying is she?" The string of questions pursued each other so quickly that she could hardly take a breath, let alone have them answered.

"Look," Grayson said sternly, promptly shutting Maka up. "She's fine. According to Kid, she just felt a little ill and all of the excitement took too great a toll on her. Black Star's already left to take her home to rest properly. Everything's fine."

The relief settled in smoothly and Maka couldn't have been gladder. "Thank Death."

Grayson chuckled and looked down at her out of the corner of his eye. "Can't say the same for your weapon, though. He's been worried sick since your disappearance."

Maka groaned and rolled her eyes. "He's the one who abandoned me. Like I really give a fuck if he's worried or not." Soul had no right to be cold and distant one minute and caring and protective another. She was _not_ into bi-polar guys.

But dammit, he was her partner. The one that's been with her through thick and thin, heated and content, happy and sad, you name it. Maka could hardly think of a time since they've been together that he wasn't by her side either experiencing the same thing or supporting her. Their partnership required them to be close and fond of each other, but they'd already outstepped that level and become even closer. Even in their roughest of times, they couldn't be completely mad at one another, not really. They may think so at the time, but everyone else outside of their situation could sense that they were only so upset because they cared so much.

Grayson was one of those people.

Instead of saying anything, Grayson lightly placed his hand on her shoulder and smiled softly, silently saying he knew all but wouldn't bore her with details. Maka picked up on his silent meaning and stuck out her tongue elbowing him in his side playfully.

And as they walked back into the giant hall side-by-side, on better terms than they had ever been, Maka knew everything was going to be alright. When Soul looked up and spotted her entrance and practically flew over to where she was, frantically asking of her whereabouts and just what was she thinking of scaring him like that and growing more frustrated when she smiled simply at him and assured him everything was fine, Maka also knew that everything was going to work out. Despite all that shit that was going on in her life, it was just something that was going to blow over soon enough. Even if she had to work at it, her life could return to the way it had been, with possibly new additions to her routine.

Of course, for any of that to happen, all had to become worse first.

* * *

**Author's Comments:**

**.**

**IT'S FINALLY DONE! AFTER MONTHS OF SITTING ON MY COMPUTER COLLECTING DUST I FINALLY FINISHED YOU CHAPTER 7!**

**Sorry. That needed to be said. =_= You have no idea how much I struggled over this chapter.**

**You know something I've noticed with fanfiction? There's hardly any family love. Anytime you see an "I love you" 99.9999999% of the time it's a romance thing. So I decided to be different and have some non-blood-related love between Grayson and Maka. Although, I'm not sure Soul got the memo. XD Meh. Soon enough.**

**I'm warning you guys now, these next few chapters are going to seem like they're zipping by (and no not because I'm updating so fast. I wish ;_;) As you've read (I hope) she only has two days left. So I'm pretty much just going to do chapter 8 for one day and chapter 9 for the night of the last day. **

**But! That doesn't necessarily mean the story will be over soon. Not even close. ._. I gots lots of planning to do.**

**So that leads me to a sort of poll (which I may also put up on my profile later. Idk).**

**What do you guys like to do on a date? What do you think is fun and/or romantic?**

**I would really appreciate if everyone answer this because it's going to help a ton with my next chapter (damn I just gave a lot of shit away). But anyways, PM me, review, I don't care just let me know somehow.**

**Also, I know that I previously mentioned that I like to keep these chapters under 6,000 words but as you can see this exceeds 8,000 with help from the author's note. Since I haven't updated in so long, I thought I'd extend this one a bit. Then again, who knows? Maybe I'll extend them every once in awhile when something important comes up.**

**Now to answer the few questions I had:**

does Maka and Grayson have an old club house in the woods ?

**No, that's just where they met. In fact, they hardly went to the woods as children besides then. They had another special place which I hope to mention later.**

does soul find out about her being a angel

**I can't reveal. ;)**

**And for my fun fact! Woooo~ I don't know why I started doing these but it's fun letting you guys know behind-the-scenes stuff.**

**A Grigori (or an angel if you'd prefer to call them that) are born with their wings. However, they are not born with them outside of their body. If that were so, they'd be too fragile and weak and they would snap easily. So until their large enough, which is about the length of an average tablespoon, is when they are ready to come out. To extract a Grigori's wings Seraphim (you've heard him mentioned before ;]) must personally do a sort of…surgery type process. It's not bloody and the Grigori doesn't need to be sedated because it's more of a magic-like process. The details get a bit complicated here, but basically he creates two perfect slits in your back for the wings to squeeze out.**

**Unfortunately for Grigoris everywhere, as it's nearing the time for their wings to be extracted, they have severe backpain that renders them unable to move sometimes. The saddest part is that all Grigoris ready for extracting are children. D:**

**I was going to incorporate the story of how Maka got her wings in the story, but I'm not sure how to fit that in now. I'll probably end up writing a random oneshot of Soul asking her.**

**Until next time~!**


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